A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962
About this audiobook
The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict, and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture. Nearly half a century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria’s independence, and yet its repercussions continue to be felt not only in Algeria and France but throughout the world. Indeed, from today’s vantage point the Algerian War looks like a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, from Beirut to Baghdad—struggles in which questions of religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism take on a new and increasingly lethal intensity. A Savage War of Peace is the definitive history of the Algerian War, a book that brings that terrible and complicated struggle to life with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is essential reading for our own violent times as well as a lasting monument to the historian’s art.
About the author
Sir Alistair Horne is the author of over twenty books on history and politics. They include A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (winner of the Wolfson Prize); The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 (winner of the Hawthornden Prize); How Far from Austerlitz?: Napoleon 1805-1815 ; and Seven Ages of Paris. In 1969, he founded the Alistair Horne Fellowship to help young historians at St. Antony's College, Oxford. He was awarded the French Legion d'honneur in 1993 and received a knighthood in 2003 for his work on French history. Horne and his artist wife, Sheelin, live in Oxfordshire.
James Adams is one of the world’s leading authorities on terrorism and intelligence, and for more than twenty-five years he has specialized in national security. He is also the author of fourteen bestselling books on warfare, with a particular emphasis on covert warfare. A former managing editor of the London Sunday Times and CEO of United Press International, he trained as a journalist in England, where he graduated first in the country. Now living in Southern Oregon, he has narrated numerous audiobooks and earned an AudioFile Earphones Award and two coveted Audie Award for best narration.
