Sometimes I question my masochistic tendency to pick up these thick (625 pages), detailed "phone book" history books. I always chase down the references on wikipedia, pause to review earlier details and spend months of agony assimilating everything that happened in a broader context as I read them. I shudder when I consider the pain I would have endured if I had chosen a career in history or historiography.
"Savage" is a gross understatement for how terrible this period of history was in Algeria. The deprivations and inhumanity were extremely painful to get through, especially the shocking, nauseating, and horrific details cited by the author. The Polish/Nazi holocaust, Rawandan genocide, Stalinist purges, and Yugoslav civil war are comparable in their horrors, but this civil war (10% of the population was killed or permanently maimed) is more savage and depraved.
I disagree with about half of the author's analysis and conclusions and I am not enthralled by Charles de Gaulle's cult of personality or his destructive politique de grandeur. So I did not appreciate Horne's gushing praise (he should have read Barbara Tuchman's take on some of the events). However, the book is extremely well-researched and the facts are well-presented, so I am giving it 2/5 Stars. And finally: I did enjoy brushing up my French, as there are numerous, long French citations and all of the original source materials are in French & Arabic.
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