Bibliographic information: Klein, Martin A., Slavery And Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 1998, Cambridge University PressThe book is important because it is one rare studies on domestic slavery. slavery in French West Africa. It contributes to the field of study by delving into the importance of slavery in Senegal, Sudan and Guinea in the development of Africa. The time period of the study extends from 1876 to 1922, during which Klein ultimately shows the evolution of slavery. In the years before 1876, Klein argued that slavery had economic and social significance in societies. Two themes make up a major part of the book. These include: the conflict between the French in mainland France and the French in Africa; and conflicts between slave and master. It is obvious that Klein is liberal because of his support for pragmatists such as Ponty. There is evidence of a critique of conservative colonial values ​​of slaveholding, as he opposed the tactics of slave masters. Klein also thoroughly critiques administrators' assessments of slaves, acknowledging the lack of substantial evidence. Klein's main argument concerns the corruption of local administrators, with slavery being at the forefront of the argument. Their role in hiding evidence of slavery or preventing slaves from being free under emancipation is explored. Klein argued that local administrators wanted to keep the peace (because of the socio-economic importance of slavery), while sharing selfish values ​​with the chiefs by wanting to profit from it with ingenuity. Klein explains how the national consensus after 1879 (under the Third Republic) was anti-slavery, which required local administrators to mislead an emancipating France...... middle of paper ......statutes social to define their power over those of slave origin. This was especially true in the sense that some slaves became wealthier than their masters. There is a major weakness of the book: it concerns the provenance of the information. The main problem is that throughout the book Klein argues that local administrators had a habit of distorting much of the information. However, with the facts presented by Klein, such as the number of slaves who fled in 1905, it is difficult to consider them reliable on this basis. Klein does not explain the processes that were followed to obtain the numbers and much of his arguments are based on the administrators' "facts." Potentially, the figures could have been fabricated, for example. Ultimately, it is easier to accept the use of facts as the only information (since it was the administrators who wrote the most about the region).).