Universal Emancipation: The Haitian Revolution and the Radical Enlightenment by Nick Nesbitt (review)

since cosmetics were part of medicine and physicians were involved in creating and selling them. In summary, while the initial five chapters focus on the second half of the title, “beauty,” the final three chapters are centered on the title’s first half, “selling .” In the former part, Martin discusses first how cosmetics were consumed, produced, and advertised at the end of the eighteenth century, and then how beauty products, as they became ever more available to increasing numbers of French consumers, came to be the object of growing criticism from æsthetic, moral and medical perspectives. In the latter part, readers learn how entrepreneurs selling cosmetics reacted to this criticism and the accompanying change in the definition of beauty. Twelve black-and-white figures appear alongside the text, aptly illustrating various beauty standards as well as advertising techniques used to sell cosmetics. In this reviewer’s opinion, the four figures included in Chapter Seven entitled “Selling the Orient” are instrumental in making it one of the strongest chapters, even though it has been published before in part. Here, Martin addresses the eighteenth-century wave of Orientalism both in literature and in society, and particularly French fascination with the harem, and analyzes its impact on beauty standards, cosmetics, and the latter’s commercialization. She then extends her analysis to Napoleon’s foray into the Orient and its related effect on the cosmetics industry. A Bibliography and Index conclude the book with the Bibliography conveniently separating primary and secondary sources. This publication will be of interest to French historians, particularly those focusing on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as well as scholars and students of French cultural history and gender studies. University of North Texas Marijn S. Kaplan NESBITT, NICK. Universal Emancipation: The Haitian Revolution and the Radical Enlightenment . Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8139-2803-6. Pp. 197. $47.95. Nesbitt’s book will be of great interest to those who have a basic knowledge of both the French and the Haitian Revolutions, as well as a good understanding of the philosophy of Hegel, Kant, and Spinoza. The reader lacking in these areas will find the book less than captivating; however, the final two chapters will make the book a worthwhile purchase. The interdisciplinary approach, based on extensive research, is evident in the 32 pages of notes and 15 pages of works cited. A seven-page appendix thoroughly covers the revolution itself. The author’s habit of coining words, for example, “untotalized” and “reterritorialized ” and his writing style which is so concise that one often needs to pause after a sentence to reflect on its meaning, result in a slow read. Additionally, terms in Creole are not consistently translated. For example, “restavek” (rural children placed in the home of urban strangers with the promise of an education but who actually become slaves to that family) may be unfamiliar and Nesbitt incorrectly calls this a problem in the U.S., whereas it only exists in Haiti. Nesbitt contends that the Haitian Revolution was ground-breaking in two respects: first, it produced the only successful land reform in the Atlantic world, and secondly, its emancipation was truly universal, modeled on the Radical 178 FRENCH REVIEW 84.1 Enlightenment. The author claims that the liberté, égalité, and fraternité promoted by the French Revolution was constrained by economic considerations and limited to citizens of France, whereas the Radical Enlightenment extended emancipation universally, based on human rights and natural law. Toussaint Louverture and his assistants wrote these principles into the Constitution of Haiti. The final fifty pages of the book examine the shortcomings of the revolution. Because Haiti was the first black independent republic in the Atlantic world, it inevitably drew opposition from regions where slavery existed. In order to inhibit the spread of the revolutionary spirit, these countries refused to grant diplomatic recognition to Haiti, whose economic viability was further weakened by embargos . Because Toussaint believed that a strong economy was the only way to maintain independence in order to resist these external pressures, he saw the continuation of the agricultural plantocracy as the only possible means to this end. Thus, he ordered the freed slaves to continue their labor...