Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: What's Past Is Prologue; 1 European Views of Islam and Their Correlation with Oriental Despotism; 2 Observant Travelers; 3 Political Thinkers and the Orient; 4 The Oriental Despotic Universe of Montesquieu; 5 Edmund Burke and Despotism in India; 6 Alexis de Tocqueville and Colonization; 7 James Mill and John Stuart Mill: Despotism in India; 8 Karl Marx: The Asiatic Mode of Production and Oriental Despotism; 9 Max Weber: Patrimonialism as a Political Type; 10 Conclusion; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index
Summary
Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient
