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France and Algeria: A History of Decolonization and Transformation, by Phillip C. Naylor. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000. xviii + 290 pages. Maps. Abbrevs. Notes to p. 387. Sel. bibl. to p. 427. Index to p. 457. $49.95.
For the 132 years that Algeria formed the core of France's overseas holdings, the North African territory assumed a crucial role in shaping France itself-as an imperial entity, an economic power, and a champion of Western civilization and Gallic culture. Thus, when Algeria gained its independence in 1962, France confronted a difficult, and previously unthinkable, question: Did the loss of Algeria fundamentally alter the essence of France? Because Algerians had found it difficult to define themselves or their nation during the colonial era-caught as they were between an Arabo-Berber-Islamic heritage and domination by foreigners who did their best to repress, control, or manipulate that heritage-independence posed for them a somewhat different, but not unrelated, challenge. The very existence of an Algerian state, so vigorously denied for so long, had now to be affirmed. This study...