Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36639 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Synopsis
British historian Horne spent much of his career studying French military history. In this 1977 work, he turned his eye on France's failed colonial war in Algeria. His narrative is constructed through a synthesis of France's secondary literature on the bloody conflict and interviews with many of the key actors. He combines discussion of the conflic

Customer Reviews

Recommended by President Bush!
Alistair Horne's masterful study of the French War in Algeria has been read and studied by President George W Bush it was announced on Radio 4 yesterday. According to the news report he was so interested in the book he contacted the historian and they spoke for an hour discussing President De Gaulle and how he dealt with Algeria in the 1950's and 1960s, comparing it with the situation in Iraq today!! Alistair Horne made it very clear that he did not support Bush's policy in Iraq or the the Middle East but had found the conversation interesting.

I found the book very interesting. I have seen the amazing French black and white film "Battle of Algiers" and wanted to know more about this war/campaign, Hornes book was very informative and interesting. If you are interested in the politics of the Middle east you would enjoy this and find it interesting.

A lesson not learned
I am somewhat of a fan of Alastair Horne's, having come to him via his trilogy of books on Franco-German conflicts, and I went looking in Amazon to see if there was anything new from him. And I came across this book, whose purchase many years ago was prompted by the desire to know more about the world of Freddie Forsyth's outstanding thriller "The day of the Jackal". Seeing it again on the Amazon website reminded me as to how relevant it is to the modern story of the US and Iraq. Of course, there are substantial differences; the US is not Iraq's colonial power and the US most certainly does not regard the place as part of the USA, the way the French did Algeria. And because of the lack of a US equivalent of "pieds noirs" (French settlers in Algeria), no matter how bad George Bush messes up, no US paratroop regiment is going to mutiny, try to assassinate him and bring the US to the brink of civil war.

However, the similarities are scary - the reliance on pure military power to win, the use of tactics (particularly in the battle of Algiers) that alienated the locals and effectively made them into allies of the FLN rebels or at least tolerant of them, and the widespread use of torture (a subject that touches raw nerves in France to this day). As with Iraq, the FLN didn't confront the French military head-on, but relied on ambush and, more particularly, on intimidating and murdering local allies of the French, policemen, local officials and the like. There were also French near-equivalents of "Mission Accomplished", even as the war was being lost where it desperately needed to be won - in the hearts and minds of Algerians themselves.

As I write this, Zinédine Zidane is in Algeria, being feted as a hero. He is the son of harkis, the Algerians who fought on the French side and who had to leave Algeria or face severely curtailed life expectancies. Time has finally healed the wounds. One hopes it will be so with Iraq. One wishes that the Bush Administration had read this highly perceptive book before launching its ill-considered venture - and that it had had the honesty and wisdom to see the lessons therein.

Gripping
I ordered this book as a result of a recommendation by the journalist Robert Fiske. I worked in Algeria in 1975 and the country has been under my skin ever since. This book is a fantastic distillation of the recent history of Algeria, I wish I had read it along time ago. What lessons can be learnt for the modern world and the threats that exist, and perhaps even more relevant in the post Sept 11th world. It was a gripping read, encapsulating the drama completely as it unfolded. An intellectual challenge, sumptous writing. A profound and shocking learning experience.