WOLVES IN THE CITY: The Death of French Algeria

by Paul Henissart ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1970

A detailed account of the fast year in the eight-year Algerian war for independence, this is essentially the stow of the notorious OAS and its fanatical last-ditch resistance on behalf of ""Algerie francaise."" The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and the Algerian cause take a background role here; the real struggle is between the OAS command (and die-hard pieds heirs supporters) and the French government of Charles de Gaulle (with the French Army caught haplessly in the middle). Henissart, formerly a correspondent for Newsweek in Europe and North Africa, plunges right into the events of 1961, and though he recounts the pasts of the principal OAS figures as they appear in the narrative, there is generally little backtracking or elaboration for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the Algerian situation. As the inevitability of Algerian independence became clear, ""the roving drawnout sporadic struggle between the French Army and the FLN in mountains, ravines and impoverished settlements was replaced by a shapeless, nameless vicious war in the cities. . . a war of underground networks, gunmen, deserters, police informers, liaison agents and double agents?' Henissart proceeds ably and surely through this murky brutal ""twilit war,"" portraying the OAS, its leaders, its terrorist operations, and its demise with clarity, assiduity, and relative objectivity. However the thoroughness of the investigation may discourage the more casual reader, Illustrated.

Pub Date: July 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION