This is an interesting look at the history of Mauritius, an island uninhabited until the arrival of colonists in the late sixteenth century which subsequently became a hub of trade and warfare in the Indian Ocean world. Vaughan focuses on the 1700s, when French settlers and slaves from Africa and India combined to create a complex and contradictory society, a true creolité in which no one ethnic or religious group could lay claim to being autochthonous. Vaughan's style is engaging, and her extensive archival research allows her to examine power relations, colonialism, cultural change and gender dynamics over a period of several changes.

However, careless editing and a frustrating citation style (partly in text and partly end note, neither of which I find appropriate to historical writing; footnotes or nothing, folks) do detract from her argument somewhat. The occasional lapse from 'Muslim' to 'Moslem', for example, or the assumption that the reader will be able to intuit what is meant by "Palmié's theme-park theory of African ethnicity" (not a self-explanatory phrase for me, I'll admit; it only makes me think of roller coasters), make me wonder what other infelicities have escaped my notice. ( )