The Algerian Problem

Foreign correspondent Edward Behr’s work frequently took him to Algeria, and in 1958 he first published this book, The Algerian Problem. Written at a time when the war was far from over, and going back a century or more over the background, it was widely considered a fair assessment of a problem which many Frenchmen reckoned no foreigner could possibly understand. The book had the virtue of being written by a French-speaking outsider with some understanding of, and sympathy for, the positions of both the French and the Algerians.

It was considered to be compulsory reading at the United States Department of State.

“Mr. Behr is the member of the Paris bureau of Time-Life charged with North African affairs, and he knows the subject from long and bitter experience. In so far as it is possible, he has kept an objective mind about Algeria; he is accurate, concise and thoughtful. Of the score or so books about the war, his is easily the best.”—New Statesman