A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York Review Books Classics) by Alistair Horne Reviewed by Christopher Hitchens
The Atlantic Monthly
"It was arguably fair, when André Maurois finished his Histoire de la France, to permit him a small allowance of la gloire and to agree with his conclusion that 'The history of France, a permanent miracle, has the singular privilege of impassioning the peoples of the earth to the point where they all take part in French quarrels.' And it was certainly true, when Alistair Horne began his long study of the Algerian war (or the Algerian revolution), that no sentient person could fail to share his conviction that France in 1789, 1848, 1871 (the Paris Commune), 1916 (Verdun), and 1940 (the defeat and capitulation that led to Vichy) was in some sense both the mother and the daughter ? and perhaps also the orphan ? of modern history." Read the entire Atlantic Monthly review.