An interview with Lauren Benton and Dan Edelstein, authors of two new books on piracy, imperialism, and violence appears in a recent issue of the academic journal Humanity.

Lauren Benton’s book, A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), concerns the legal history of imperialism.

Dan Edelstein’s The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), offers a legal history and political theory of the rationale for the Terror during the French Revolution.

This piece should be interesting for readers concerned about current issues of piracy, imperialism, and terror, as well as students in HIST 423 French Revolution and Napoleon.

The interview can be found at Humanity online at the Project Muse database.