They Called It Peace - by Lauren Benton

Book Synopsis

A sweeping account of how small wars shaped global order in the age of empires

Imperial conquest and colonization depended on pervasive raiding, slaving, and plunder. European empires amassed global power by asserting a right to use unilateral force at their discretion. They Called It Peace is a panoramic history of how these routines of violence remapped the contours of empire and reordered the world from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.

In an account spanning from Asia to the Americas, Lauren Benton shows how imperial violence redefined the very nature of war and peace. Instead of preparing lasting peace, fragile truces ensured an easy return to war. Serial conflicts and armed interventions projected a de facto state of perpetual war across the globe. Benton describes how seemingly limited war sparked atrocities, from sudden massacres to long campaigns of dispossession and extermination. She brings vividly to life a world in which warmongers portrayed themselves as peacemakers and Europeans imagined "small" violence as essential to imperial rule and global order.

Holding vital lessons for us today, They Called It Peace reveals how the imperial violence of the past has made perpetual war and the threat of atrocity endemic features of the international order.

Review Quotes

"They Called It Peace . . . shouts a chilling reminder that humankind possesses a regrettably high tolerance for violence between war and peace. . . . A worthy read for historians, social scientists, scholars, politicians, and practitioners of war alike."---Lieutenant Colonel Terry Nail, USAF, Air & Space Power Journal

"A nimble and provocative history."---Michael Ledger-Lomas, Jacobin

"A radical and important book."---Christopher Kissane, Irish Times

"A thoughtful short history of imperial violence. . . . Recommended."-- "Choice Reviews"

"A wonderful survey of the interplay of legal ideas and violence in European empires from the early modern era to the present."---William Smiley, Legal History JOTWELL

"A New Yorker Best Book We've Read This Year"

"An encouraging turning point in the revision of the whole history of European imperialism . . . ground-breaking."---Leonardo Clausi, The Political Quarterly

"Benton...uses harrowing case studies from around the world, and contextualizes events within the work of contemporary intellectuals."-- "New Yorker"

"Breathtakingly ambitious."---Boyd van Dijk, Law and History Review

"Finalist for the PROSE Award in World History, Association of American Publishers"

"Highly original."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

"Lauren Benton offers a heuristic framework to understand imperial 'small wars', which she defines as both sustained colonial military campaigns and brief acts of violence motivated by plunder, reprisal, or punishment."---Jeremy Martens, Australian Book Review

"No one has been more articulate than Benton in showing how 'the regime of armed peace mapped clear pathways from lawful interventions with modest objectives to brutal campaigns of dispossession and extermination. . . a move from treating individuals as criminals to defining whole communities as natural enemies.'"---Ron Slate, On the Seawall

"Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize, McGill University"

"The book offers a strikingly original account not only of the significance of the proliferation of small wars across the globe; but of how what came to be called 'international law' was deployed by European powers . . . a remarkable achievement."---Anthony Pagden, Journal of Early Modern History

"The book spans centuries of history, delving into accounts of imperialist violence from Asia to South America, often focusing on lesser-known victims of imperialist violence."---Sophie Squire, Socialist Worker

"Thought-provoking. . . . By throwing light on the continuities between imperial and modern violence, Benton shows that the fiction of peace continues to license the reality of war. The book is an essential read for anyone interested in the history of international law, global empires and international relations."---Syed Hammaad Mehraj, LSE Review of Books

"Winner of the Gustav Ranis International Book Prize, Macmillan Center, Yale University"

About the Author

Lauren Benton is the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History at Yale University and recipient of the Toynbee Prize for significant contributions to global history. Her books include A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400-1900 and (with Lisa Ford) Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850.