Imperial Heights: Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina

372 Pages·2011·5.31 MB·English

by  Eric T. Jennings

Thepublishergratefullyacknowledgesthegeneroussupport
of theAhmansonFoundationHumanitiesEndowmentFund
oftheUniversityofCaliforniaPressFoundation.
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Imperial Heights
FROM INDOCHINA TO VIETNAM: REVOLUTION
AND WAR IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
EditedbyFredrikLogevallandChristopherE.Goscha
1.AssumingtheBurden:EuropeandtheAmericanCommitmenttoWarinVietnam,
byMarkAtwoodLawrence
2.Indochina:AnAmbiguousColonization,1858–1954,byPierreBrocheuxandDanielHémery
3.Vietnam1946:HowtheWarBegan,bySteinTønnesson
4.ImperialHeights:DalatandtheMakingandUndoingofFrenchIndochina,byEricT.Jennings
Imperial Heights
Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina
Eric T. Jennings
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley LosAngeles London
Partsofchapters7,8,and13appearedinpreviousforminHistorical
Reflection/Réflexionshistoriques,ModernAsianStudies,andTheJournal
ofVietnameseStudies,respectively.
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UniversityofCaliforniaPress
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UniversityofCaliforniaPress,Ltd.
London,England
©2011byTheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Jennings,EricThomas.
Imperialheights:DalatandthemakingandundoingofFrench
Indochina/EricT.Jennings.
p. cm.—(FromIndochinatoVietnam:revolutionandwarin
aglobalperspective;4)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-520-26659-9(cloth:alk.paper)
1. ĐàLat(Vietnam)—History. 2. ĐàLat(Vietnam)—Colonial
influence. 3. France—Colonies—Asia—History. I. Title.
DS559.93.D3J46 2011
959.7'6—dc22 2010042773
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
ListofIllustrations ix
ForewordbytheSeriesEditors xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1. EscapingDeathintheTropics 6
2. MurderontheRaceforAltitude 21
3. Health,Altitude,andClimate 35
4. EarlyDalat,1898–1918 58
5. ColonialExpectations,Pastimes,Comestibles,
Comforts,andDiscomforts 72
6. Situatingthe“Montagnards” 94
7. AFunctionalCity?
Architecture,Planning,Zoning,andTheirCritics 112
8. TheDalatPalaceHotel 138
9. VietnameseDalat 158
10. SomeColonialCategories:
Children,EuropeanWomen,andMétis 178
11. DivineDalat 194