The War in Algeria
New York: Grove Press Inc., 1961. First Printing [Stated]. Mass market paperback. 128 pages. Occasional footnotes. Introduction by David Schoenbrun. Format is approximately 4.25 inches by 7 inches. Ink notation on front cover. Slightly curved. Jules Roy (22 October 1907 – 15 June 2000) was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War as inspiration for a number of his works. He began writing in 1946, while still serving in the military, and continued to publish fiction and historical works after his resignation in 1953 in protest of the First Indochina War. He was an outspoken critic of French colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and later civil war. Effectively started by members of the National Liberation Front (FLN) on November 1, 1954, during the Toussaint Rouge, the conflict led to serious political crises in France, causing the fall of the Fourth French Republic (1946–58). Derived from a Kirkus review: Possibly the fact that this testament of faith by Jules Roy, son of a settler in Algeria, a man who has devoted his life to the Army of France, is a runaway best seller in France will help achieve the goal he has stated- the end of the war in Algeria. For the thing about this book that makes its success phenomenal, is that he is unequivocally on the side of the Arabs, who demand recognition of nationalism in Algeria and a right to be considered people rather than cattle, to throw off the trammels of colonialism. Their cause is the cause of freedom everywhere. Jules Roy was raised in Algeria; his family live there; but he does not hesitate to accuse the French in Algeria of blindness, intolerance, bigotry. He returns to Algeria-feeling it incumbent upon him to tell the truth as he finds it. He describes the violence, the destruction, the terror- with an anguish that inform its every line. Beautifully and poetically written, this is a literary work as well as documentary evidence of a futile war. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Algeria, Colonialism, Arabs, Imperialism, Racism, Guerrilla War, Insurgency, David Schoenbrun, FLN, Nationalism, Algerian National Liberation Front
[Book #76523]
Price: $50.00