A History of Algeria

Great book. A very knowledgeable account of the history of Algeria. James McDougall knows what he is talking about. Sometimes a bit terse because the book condenses 5 centuries in a few hundreds of pages. I would have expected more about the Ottoman period. The account of French colonisation is fascinating. The style is heavy at times.

This is the standout book in an admittedly sparsely-populated field. The first chapter covers the Ottoman period -- not in great detail, but providing a good general impression of the country in that time. The real meat of the book is in the following few sections, which give a good account of the rise and fall of the French colony. Mcdougall takes care to provide the Algerian as well as French perspectives, without neglecting the other European and Jewish elements which formed major parts of the society. The concluding chapters are more straightforwardly narrative, and conclude, right up to date, with the curious stasis as the country awaits the passing of the old leaders. Mcdougall emphasises throughout the non-state structures in Algerian society which grew up in response to the ecological and social conditions, and which have helped the country to survive its various traumas as well as it has. The prose style is fairly readable: you often get quite far into the sentence before encountering the main verb, but it's certainly not dense academicese. Well worth reading by anyone with an interest in the country.

Some parts of it are irrelevant for my research but this is subjective and should not influence my review of the book. The Ottoman Empire section is what I have in mind which I will hopefully Change in due course. The book states clearly that A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne is the best written work in English about Algeria. I was wondering what additions to the mentioned book the author, McDougall has made?!

Extremely well written; I found it hard to put down

Arrivent on time. Book as advertised. Quick and Effective

Written by an academic, seemingly for academics. It's quite a difficult read, with long meandering sentences, and tangents in paragraphs.

Excellent service. As described

This is one of very few books that approached the history of Algeria without bias.

Very well done even though the prose is a bit dull.

Necessary and important.

If you don't mind the turgid style, James McDougall gives you a detailed, step by step description of the personalities and conflicts at the center of Algerian politics over several centuries. These, however, were not the only forces influencing the national development. In particular, what are very inadequately covered are two important factors: - How independence from France was actually achieved - not by guerilla war but by international pressure, and - What key foreign powers were doing - especially Soviets and Americans in the 20th century - to influence Algeria's future. In addition, there is virtually no description of the development of the oil & gas industry, which has had more impact on modern Algeria than all the domestic political gaming combined.