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A Savage War of Peace
- Algeria 1954-1962
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 29 hrs and 56 mins
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Summary
At the time, this brutal, intractable conflict seemed like a French affair. But from the perspective of half a century, it looks less like the last colonial war than the first postmodern one: a full-dress rehearsal for the amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, struggles in which religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism assume unparalleled degrees of intensity.
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Overall
- Dave
- 26-03-12
Just superb
This is a wonderfully told story of an often horrific series of events which chronicle one of the more tragic chapters in the history of the decline and fall of colonialism. It is far more than just a telling of events - it takes great pains to examine the motivations and thinking of both sides, and explains how some of France's apparently most loyal subjects could contemplate revolt and the murder of their leader. With hindsight it all seems like tragically pointless violence, but this book puts those events on context, and clearly benefits from considerable correspondence and interviews with many of the major participants.
A good book is easily spoiled by a poor reader, but this one is top notch. Always clear, and never sounds like he is tiring of what he is reading. The reviewer that said 5% of the text was in French is talking nonsense. Yes there are a few phrases which are untranslated, and that is indeed a pity for those of us with only a long-forgotten school-boy French to rely on, but it does not materially impair a thoroughly enjoyable book that illuminates one of the more terrible episodes in the recent history of Europe's retreat from empire, and explains events that deserve to be better known in the English-speaking world.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tom
- 10-11-11
A fine and interesting book
I read this book when it was first published many years ago, and was looking forward to the updated edition. Alistair Horne tells the story of Algeria's war of independence in an absorbing and interesting way. There's plenty of detail, but he doesn't let it get in the way of the narrative and his judgements seem to the point and well balanced, particularly when he is drawing comparisions with the present day. Hindsight is wonderful, but you do wonder how politicians dont seem to learn from history.
I did find it quite hard to keep a grip of the huge cast of characters, not made easy by the foreign names, but that's me not the book's fault! But you might want to keep a map of Algeria handy if you're not familiar with the geography. Understanding and keeping track is greatly helped by a wonderfully well paced and clear narration, One of the best I've heard.
Quite a long book but well worth a listen if you are interested in modern history from off the beaten track.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Nigel
- 29-12-13
Essential military history.
This book is a classic. It has stood the test of time and justifiably so. It is a sweeping panorama of the savage war in Algeria. This book will give you an understanding of nationalism and the roots of Islamism in North Africa; the wars of national liberation in mid-20th century; the French Army and - by extension - France herself. The psychology of 'les Paras', invested through blood and suffering, in Algérie française to the enigma of De Gaulle. It is all here. Most telling is the analysis of the corrosive effect of torture on the French Army which inflicted it. The prefaces and introductions are updated and bring this lesson home to more recent experience in Iraq. James Adams has read this book well. This book is essential listening.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 17-04-11
parlez vous francais ??
Well researched,well read,and balanced coverage of the war.Sadly 5% of the language(comments, statements etc)is in untranslaed French as it is assumed you are a fluent French speaker which is very very irritating
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3 people found this helpful
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- Safist
- 16-05-21
Comprehensively Depressing
Very good politico-military history of a horrific series of events in the histories of Algeria & France. Reasonably balanced (from a Centrist perspective), although his tendancy to give credit to the "honour", "love for the Army" & "wish to defend the Muslims" of Army Officers who cooperated with Fascist Pied Noirs, betrayed the Army & France with failed Coups and who failed to protect ordinary Muslims from those Fascist Pied Noirs is a bit rich!
The failure of the French to execute Salan & the other Colonels & Generals involved with the Coups & OAS Terrorists was atrocious. The Amnesty of 1968 was criminal.
The reality is that from 1954 on there were only 2 alternatives. One was full citizenship and voting rights for all - not just the Pied Noirs. The other was negotiations for independence with the representatives of the non-Pied Noirs. Needless to say the representatives of the Pied Noirs blocked both. They guaranteed their own eviction from Algeria & the horrors of war leading up to it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elaine
- 19-12-19
A fine body of work
A huge book that tackles a huge subject matter.
Excellently read. The depth of research is clear.
A cast of characters that can be confusing but this is definitely a book to be listened to again.
The frequency of French language expressions can take a little from your understanding of the text but it's not a major issue I think.
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1 person found this helpful
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- a reader
- 13-04-17
Shocking fascinating account
Deeply informed account of this terrible period. The tragic parallels with more recent history make it all the more important, amazing book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Derrick
- 04-08-09
Great history by a great historian
Alistair Horne has a great track record of superb military histories. I came to this with a curiosity about such a long war, but one little understood in the UK and poorly served in English. This is an early Horne book and shows him at the height of his powers. This is a long book at 30 hours, and I have to confess to flagging sometimes, but the sheer weight of the scholarship and narrative keeps you going. It was a also a tremendous revelation for someone who was a few years from the world before this war ended, as to just how close to civil war France came. The Day of the Jackal is not so far fetched as one reads of the most salient of De Gaulle's 15 or so assassination attemnpts.
A fine book, populated by powerful characters, with De Gaulle standing taller than he did as a World War II figure, and with a clear case as the greatest Frenchman ever- and yes, I have read Horne's much later book on Napoleon!
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-02-24
the sheer horror of the war
the book of the war comes over as balanced providing an indepeth analysis. it is very well read.
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- Skerryvore
- 24-10-23
If you want to understand modern terrorism then start here…
In the current situation of Gaza / Israel, this book is poignant and insightful in its explanation of the use of terror to gain political independence. The FLN Algerian reign of terror some learned from Indo China but horrifically developed in Algeria could arguably have been a playbook for many other terror organisations from the IRA to Hamas and IS.
The French response also has many lessons learned.
A fascinating story of a country ravished by the horrors its recent past.
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