The Colonial Bastille

Peter Zinoman's original and insightful study focuses on the colonial prison system in French Indochina and its role in fostering modern political consciousness among the Vietnamese. Using prison memoirs, newspaper articles, and extensive archival records, Zinoman presents a wealth of significant new information to document how colonial prisons, rather than quelling political dissent and maintaining order, instead became institutions that promoted nationalism and revolutionary education.

Peter Zinoman is Associate Professor of Southeast Asian History at the University of California, Berkeley.

Acknowledgments
List of Maps and Tables
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Origins of the Ill-Disciplined Prison
2. The System: Fragmented Order and Integrative Dynamics
3. The Regime: Surveillance, Forced Labor, and Total Care
4. Prisoners and Prison Society
5. Colonial Prisons in Revolt, 1862 - 1930
6. The Thai Nguyen Rebellion
7. Prison Cells and Party Cells: The Indochinese Communist Party in Prison, 1930 - 1936
8. Prisons and the Colonial Press, 1933 - 1939
9. The Prisoner Released
Epilogue
Glossary
Select Bibliography
Index