Best algeria history books according to redditors

The Fate of Africa

"An Army at Dawn" The Battle of Kasserine Pass is only a small part of the book, but it's a great read that I highly recommend. It really puts in perspective how ill prepared for war the US army was and how egocentric a lot of the general in the US and British armies were. It also shows how awful it would have been to be a soldier during it, e.g. walk 2 kilometers over open group towards a fortified hill and try to take it.... Great book.

That's an excellent summary. Rick Atkinson has written an excellent book that covers the North Africa campaign called An Army At Dawn. Fascinating reading and extremely detailed.

Fanon is this book.

Counter-advice: never take a class on colonialism at a liberal arts school.

Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn is pretty good.

It's kind of frightening to think that there's so much to learn about the last 150-200 years just to be able to get some sense of of it all. We teach our children almost nothing in school and, somewhere along the line, being well-read became socially unacceptable and "good" writers fewer and farther between.

By the way, if you have any interest in French military history in Indo-China and Algeria, I can suggest:

Hell In A Very Small Place: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu

Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962

I find military history a good starting point to researching who\what\why\how of any particular time and place.

I'm also fond of the history of The Crimean War; absolutely fascinating glimpse into the start of what many would consider "how it all ended up this way". Just really neat history that branches off in so many directions.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested.

Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah

Night-Vision: Illuminating War and Class on the Neo-Colonial Terrain by Butch Lee and Red Rover

The Weapon of Theory by Amilcar Cabral

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Mediations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth by James Yaki Sayles

The answer to this is incredibly complex and involves a myriad of factors. To be honest I dont know if you can really ELI5 it, but here goes.

ELI5 - Colonialism really, really sucked, the international aid & assistance system often hurts more thatn it helps and Africans didnt do themselves many favours.

The first thing I will say is do not thing of africa as 1 entity, it isn't. Africa contains the most ethnically diverse set of people on the planet, who live in a geographically and geologically diverse continent (everything from the largest desert in the world, to impossibly dense jungle, to grasslands to luscious arable land), now that is out of the way lets try and answer our question.

1. Colonialism - had a massive impact on the continent whose legacy is still felt to this day.

• The first thing the European powers did was carve up the continent drawing boundaries and borders (ever wondered why africa has mysteriously straight borders). This created nations where there were none before, lumping different groups together who had barely had any contact with each other before, or who had bad relations, or simply just tarted with each other but had very different cultures and governance systems, it has and continues to be a perennial source of conflict.
  
• The colonial economic systems were purposely built to extract resources and economic output of the colonies for the benefit of the colonizing power (the most extreme example of this is King Leopold of Belgium in the Congo). So even when African countries did get Independence their economies were deeply tied to their former colonial masters.
  
• Thirdly, the colonial system of governance, was designed to subdue and control natives, not create lasting democratic systems and norms, and government institutions. Furthermore in order to control natives ethnically divisive and cynical policies were pursued (divide and conquer) i.e. the Belgians in Rwanda emphasized and manipulated the differences between the Hutu's and Tutsi's and therein lies the genesis of the genocide
  
  so at independence you had countries, whose people had no stake in the idea of the Nation they were now a part of, very little capacity to govern, competition between various groups for very limited resources, and economies tied to their former colonizers.
  
  2. The international aid and assistance system is fucked A lot of money has pumped in, you are right, but often not for the right reasons or in a manner that didn't help at all. During the Cold War both the West used aid and assistance to support/prop governments they supported (i.e the USA's support to Mobutu in Zaire).
  
  
• Secondly aid is used as a backhanded domestic stimulus, for example food aid from the USA is used to mop excess supply and keep farmers happy (the government buys it at market prices) or you give a country money to build a dam but its financed by US banks, and the construction work is done by a U.S. company (or its local subsidiary).
  
• Thirdly, Aid or assistance has a history of being poorly planned out, badly implemented and not being properly contextualized for the country in which it is being applied (diversity means due diligence is key when planning a project).
  
• Finally Aid has become an industry in and of itself there are hundreds of thousands of people earning lots of money working in the aid or development industry its scale is mind boggling. It is now its own industrial complex in control of huge sums and wielding enormous influence and having a limited impact.
  
  3. Africans fucked up I say this as an African myself. Despite the disadvantages with which we were hobbled at independence, it does not mean that we had to spend the second half of the 20th century becoming caricatures and that is squarely a failure of leadership on our part. African leaders post Independence were short sighted, self indulgent and (worryingly) violent and murderous. Botswana proves this, that proper leadership can be a stimulus for development.
  
  
  In my opinion those are the three main answers to your question, but as i alluded to earlier there are more reasons and the depend upon which country you are talking about, and how far back in time you want to go. If you are interested I would suggest reading "The Fate of Africa by Martin Meredith" its comprehensive and accessible and will give you a good understanding of Africa's history and what went wrong (and right).
  
  All this being said Africa is changing, fast. It has over the last decade consistently had some of the highest growth rates in world, its economies are evolving, the middle class is growing and innovation and technology are changing millions of lives. There is still a very very long way to go but it is not at all despair and death (despite what you may see in the news.).
  
  Edit: I am a terrible speller

Once you start accepting orphans, how are you going to feel if you have to turn away children because you've reached your limit or they don't fit your age group? This is one of those things a lot of people struggle with.

I think that having some foreign volunteers is great, but I'd caution too much about depending on foreigners volunteering (or being paid) for too many things. Remember that any time you can hire locals you're providing a much larger contribution to the local economy than when someone volunteers for a year. Not to say you won't need volunteers or use them, but try to be careful to use locals when you can.

I'm not sure what you have as far as land, but hopefully you can set up a small scale farm, so as to provide most of the food for your orphanage as well as have some to sell/trade for the things you don't grow/raise. Vegetables/bananas/Chickens/etc are all fairly easy to raise and provide a return very quickly. Also, children can learn valuable skills as well.

While their may be profit in minibuses and other ventures, remember that you're a foreigner. It can be difficult to deal with all the petty theft and extra bribes that come with the knowledge that the owner is a Mzungu. Not to say don't try-but be careful.

Africa is an awesome place, and I often long to go back. You'll learn to love it too. It does have some issues from time to time though, as you're noticing. Long term you are likely going to want to invest in a generator and perhaps some solar panels. Until you're more developed and established though you probably can't plan out that need.

These books don't quite relate to orphanages, but more in general to Africa and aid throughout the world-if you haven't read them I'd recommend you get your hands on them as it can help with understanding a lot of why things are the way they are in Africa.

Africa Doesn't Matter

The Fate of Africa

Festival Elephants and the Myth of Global Poverty

And not quite related, but a nice story from a wonderful woman (who's sadly now passed away) that went to Africa in her youth, lived there her entire life, and ran an orphanage: Land of a Thousand Hills (Disclaimer: I lived very close to her house at Mugongo and I knew her as a child; I last saw her in 2005 on my last visit to Rwanda.)

Sadly, my work keeps me busy where I am and I don't really get a chance to volunteer... I'd love to transition to working with an aid agency though instead of what I do now. No luck so far, but I'll keep trying...

I am one of the mods at /r/geopolitics responsible for the wiki which has an extensive list of books and other references for those interested in international affairs. For your convenience, I have included the section on books and news sources on MENA below. If there is anything that you are specifically interested in, let me know and I can help you narrow down your search. As it is right now there is a lot of information out there.

Books on the Middle East & North Africa

General History

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Albert Hourani | A History of the Arab Peoples | This is widely considered to be the definitive book on history in the Arab World, though a little dated.
Eugene Rogan | The Arabs: A History | Another essential and critically acclaimed book on Arab history.
Roy Mottahedeh | The Mantle of the Prophet | Role of religion and religious figures in Iran before and during the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Mark Lynch | The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East | An outline of the causes, reactions, and consequences of the Arab Spring.

Military History

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Kenneth Pollack | Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 | Probably the best book on Arab militaries culture and effectiveness and warfare in the Middle East between 1945-1991. Very extensive and informative.
Steven Ward | Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces | A well-written history of Iran's military, from the Safavid Empire to the 21st century.
Ahron Bregman | Israel's Wars: A History since 1947 | A terrific book outlining Israel's strategic decision making for its military operations since its founding as a country.
Bruce Hoffman | Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947 | A look at Jewish terrorism and the establishment of Israel and the development of the current Arab-Israeli conflict.

Terrorism, Insurgencies, & Substate Violence

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Daniel Byman | Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement: What Everyone Needs to Know | A terrific primer on al-Qaida, ISIL, and jihadism.
Lawrence Wright | The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 | Probably the best book for outlining the history of al-Qaida and why 9/11 happened.
Michael Wiess and Hassan Hassan | ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror | One of several recent books on ISIL, this one provides an overview on the history and organization of ISIL.
Barry Rubin | Revolution Until Victory?: The Politics and History of the PLO | Although a little old (published in 1996), this books does a great job chronicling the history of the PLO and its role in the Palestinian struggle.
Alistar Horne | A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 | The definitive book on the Algerian War and the effects that it had in Algeria, France, and the rest of the world.
Charles Lister | The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency | Written by an expert on jihadism in Syria, this books looks at the history and evolution of jihadists in the Syrian conflict.

U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Bob Woodward | Obama's Wars | Outline of the U.S. foreign policy decision making towards Iraq and Afghanistan in the early years of the Obama administration.
Kenneth Pollack | The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America | A good overview of the history of support and tensions between the United States and Iran.
Michael R. Gordon | The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama | Follows U.S. strategic and political decision making process during the Iraq War and the U.S. occupation.
Peter R. Mansoor | Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War | An extensive outline of the development and outcome of the Surge during the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.
Mark Mazzetti | The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth | An overview of the CIA's targeted killing program against terrorist organizations.
Michael Morrell | The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism--From al Qa'ida to ISIS | Written by the former acting director of the CIA, this book examines U.S. counterterrorism successes and failures of the past two decades.

International News Sources that have good reporting on MENA

• The Economist - One of the most highly acclaimed English-language news sources that focuses on international news with in-depth reporting and analysis. Openly takes an editorial stance supportive of classical and economic liberalism.
  
• Financial Times - International daily newspaper with a special emphasis on international business and economic news.
  
• War on the Rocks - Reviews international political and security issues, U.S. national security issues, and alcohol.
  
• Foreign Policy - A website and semi-annual magazine that focuses on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy. A major publication in the field of field of international politics.
  
• International New York Times - The international version of one of the most preeminent American daily newspapers. Formerly known as the International Herald Tribune.
  
• Wall Street Journal - A highly acclaimed, business-focused international daily newspaper with strong reporting on international developments. The largest American newspaper by circulation.
  
  

  Middle East and North Africa News Sources
  

• Al-Monitor - Provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East through both original and translated content. Has media partnerships with major news organizations from countries in the Middle East.
  
• Jihadology - A clearing house for primary sources from terrorist organizations. Good place to go if you want to know what the other side is saying. Arabic skills sometimes required.
  
• Middle East Week - Looks at issues and topics in the contemporary Middle East that are not frequently talked about.
  
• Syria Comment - Blog run by Joshua Landis, a Syria expert, with frequent quest contributors. Focuses on Syria since before the start of the civil war.
  
• Musings on Iraq - Blog on Iraqi politics and society started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews.
  
• Syria Deeply - A clearing house for news on the Syrian Civil War.
  
• Hurriyet Daily News - Oldest English-language Turkish news organization, with a secular and center-left position on political issues.
  
• Haaretz - Israel's oldest daily newspaper. Known for its strongly left-wing and liberal stances on domestic and foreign issues.
  
  

Absolutely. This is the book in question.

I think I read in the truly excellent "An Army at Dawn" (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805087249/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=aeebc627-7ecf-4129-8c0c-1d437f271eca&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=080508861X&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=GE74JN245RCFKT338B2R&pf_rd_r=GE74JN245RCFKT338B2R&pf_rd_p=aeebc627-7ecf-4129-8c0c-1d437f271eca)

that Massachussets had a bunch of stockpiled 20 years old shells along. Which explains some of the problems early in the war.

I have no specialty whatsoever in the topic that this book covers but I was intrigued because it shares the same name with not one but two other books that I've read (and that given the subject matter I think are actually more appropriately named).

I don't know if you have a JSTOR account but all three of these reviews are positive, including from an initially skeptical Japanologist:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2808129?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4054394?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385682?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Warning! Political opinions follow! Also, this is kinda my area of study, so I apologize if I ramble a bit.

Of course military dictatorships can have high approval ratings. Consider Nasserist Egypt, for example. However, that doesn't by itself make these forms of government legitimate or moral, because the decision you're describing is simply impossible. Fundamentally, dictatorships are bad for the public at large.

There's a good book on military coups d'etat (the usual origin story for military dictatorships) that you should read: Edward Luttwak's Coup D'Etat: A Practical Handbook. In addition to being incredibly fun to read (reading about undemocratic social change is a guilty pleasure of mine), he discusses the conditions that lead to a coup. To boil it down to stuff that's relevant to your question, you'd need:

• A lack of established democratic traditions
  
  
• A "mechanical" state structure which answers to orders from above, but doesn't think too hard about them
  
  
• An idea of political legitimacy that rests on force and charisma more than anything else
  
  
• A situation where the Army is the only institution organized enough to take power
  
  Under conditions like that, you're not going to get governments which are fundamentally interested in everyone's well-being and safety. You're going to get despots, just like on Earth. Another thing worth noting from Luttwak is that in the real world, the vast majority of countries with conditions conducive for coups d'etat are poor ex-colonies, which doesn't lend itself to good outcomes either.
  
  Here I move beyond Luttwak and more into Robert Malley's The Call From Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Call To Islam. Malley's account of exactly these sorts of regimes (good examples are Nasserist Egypt and Ghana under Nkrumah) emphasizes the fact that they were almost always more interested in ideological outcomes above all else. They came to power because they believed they could do what they thought was right to fix the problems of these ex-colonies. All of them considered democracy to be somewhere between a farce and an invitation for foreign invasion. These are not people that consider the individual's well-being very highly.
  
  Perhaps we can work with this, though. Are you looking for softer authoritarianism, or legitimately enlightened despotism? The first is something you can find historical examples of, but the second, well, you're on your own.

Ah well, thanks for trying. Here's a book I thought was pretty great.

Basic thesis is that the Algerian War was the blueprint for essentially all of the Wars of Decolonization during the 50s, 60s, and 70s--and even the Iraqi and Afghan wars of the 00s. I thought it was very illuminating.

Hi, here's a good list of books to get things going. https://www.reddit.com/r/Geopolitics/wiki/book

/u/alexderlion /u/n4kke /u/thucydidesnuts

Recently, there's quite a bit of interest in starting a book club in /r/geopolitics. It would be a great idea to team up.

/u/uppityworm and I were talking about working together with them, and he has contacted /u/fusionsc2 about that. /u/fusionsc2 is a fellow book lover and is interested in discussing geopolitics with people of similar interest.

Given the large amount of responses to reading a book about Africa in the thread mentioned above, we were thinking about doing a book on Africa for our next book. Let us know about your opinions.

/u/fusionsc2 has mentioned African Conflicts and Informal Power: Big Men and Networks. In the book list listed above, there are also some additional great books on Africa,

[The Fate of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence] (http://www.amazon.com/Fate-Africa-History-Continent-Independence/dp/1610390717), a critically acclaimed book that provides a comprehensive primer on political, economic, and major social developments in post-colonial African nations.

Season of Rains: Africa in the World, This book captures the broad spectrum of political, economic, and social foundations that make Africa what it is today. According to the Amazon reviews, it touches on recent economic and tech development in reviews. So might be good for future estimates.

China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence Among the specific topics tackled here are China's interest in African oil; military and security relations; the influx and goals of Chinese aid to sub-Saharan Africa; human rights issues; and China's overall strategy in the region. It seems to be THE book on the relationship between China and Africa, according to many of the Amazon reviews.

So take a look at the books and also the book list, and we can discuss our next book after the our 3rd sessions. It would be great if you have any other additional books to recommend on Africa.

Lots of great answers everyone. I see that I have a lot of reading to do and that is a good thing. Just for anyone also interested I compiled all of the named books into a list and sourced them, for your reading pleasure.



The Accidental Guerrilla by David Kilcullen

Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen

Out of the Mountains by David Kilcullen

Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons From Malaya and Vietnam by John Nagl

Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods by John Poole

Modern War: Counter-Insurgency as Malpractice by Edward Luttwak

A Savage War of Peace by Alistar Horne

The Bear Went Over the Mountain by Lester Grau

Invisible Armies by Max Boot

Vid Putivla do Karpat by Sydir Artemovych Kovpac

Fire in the Lake by Frances FitzGerald

Inside Rebellion by Jeremy M. Weinstein

Great analysis. I can point you to Ward Churchill's Pacifism as Pathology for a really interesting take on violence. In his view, it's absurd to go up against an institution (say, the US Congress) with peaceful, picket-sign holding protesters and expect to effect change within the institution through that action. To completely write off the inhibition of physical processes of the state as "going too far" is basically to declare that your actions will be purely symbolic and not truly change-making. It's just insane to think that opposing such organized violence as the US Military puts forth by chanting slogans will actually change anything. It's an interesting view, but it basically calls for destruction of property and violence comparable to the student protests in Britain right now and the recent French strikes.

Here are Nandy's and Fanon's books by the way.

I'll say that no one understands a lot of concepts in political theory the first time they come across them. Keep in mind that we're really skimming over this - Nandy's analysis was from the psychosocial field's perspective. The topic was human phenomenological experience of colonialism and the ideas shared through it and the social/cultural forms it took. Nandy goes deep into this. He analyzed sexuality because the two cultures at odds (colonial Britain and colonized India) had such radically different forms of socially accepted sexuality, that colonialism became mostly about the success of its civilizing mission. He characterized the British as hyper-masculine and the Indians as venerating androgeny. Colonialism, he argued, caused the colonized to accept the imposed colonial values and become the violent, hyper-masculine counterplayers to the colonists. The best way to emancipation from this is not to play that role, but to deny its legitimacy altogether. It is admittedly a very compelling argument. Nandy's most interesting section, imo, is where he covers the difference between history and mythology and also differences in cultural conceptions of time. It's almost candy for the mind to get into abstract - perhaps better said, higher level - ideas and how to comprehend them.

Fanon has an entire chapter devoted to the mental defects caused to the Algerians and the French during the occupation in the 60s. Profound destruction was done to human lives on both sides: torture victims, mentally beaten victims, policemen, torturers, families, children. He talks about a police officer who started to beat his family after becoming a torturer. The man came to him asking how he could be good at his job and not do this to his family. To quote Fanon: "there is no need to be wounded by a bullet to suffer from the effects of war in body and soul."

This is great stuff to devote learning time to, I think. It's rewarding to analyze human experience in what seems to be a more truthful manner, but it also comes with an understanding of the absurdity that it often is partial to. That can be frustrating. Racial Contract Theory and Marxism are two critiques of human phenomenological experience that, to me, were perspective-widening. I would also recommend those.

https://www.amazon.com/Army-Dawn-1942-1943-Liberation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B000ZMRSGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484576145&sr=1-1&keywords=an+army+at+dawn

Rick Atkinson has three excellent WW2 books each one focused on a single US Army campaign

and if you like the Near East this is a must read

https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Byzantium-Julius-Norwich/dp/0679772693/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484576209&sr=1-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+byzantium+by+john+julius+norwich

I don't know about pictures, but the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson is fantastic and covers US involvement thoroughly.

Also the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Ron Rosenbaum is downright chilling. He actually lived in Nazi Germany.

If you're that interested in the subject, I highly, highly recommend Alistair Horne's history of the Algerian War - A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. I read it last summer whilst commuting on the train for an hour every day for an internship, and it's absolutely fantastic. Horne is an excellent writer, and the book is a perfect combination between academic and readable for an amateur historian such as myself. I started reading last night another book on the war that was was released last year, and praised by Horne, that gives a more general overview of Algerian history, but Horne's book is better so far imho.

Sure. This is not a list of what I consider the most important books on the subject but rather my attempt to select good works with similar profiles to the books found on the list.

The Fate of Africa - Meredith

The Boer War, Pakenham

Britain's Gulag, Elkins

Neoliberal Frontiers, Ethnography of Sovereignty in W. Africa, Chalfin

Africa in World Politics, Harbeson

African Perspectives on Colonialism

>Have you read The Myth of Sisyphus?

Have you read anything else Camus wrote? This is a good place to start.

Can you cite some studies to support your argument? I'm not saying that I believe what I do because a lot of people do, just that there is a lot of evidence to support it and most academic publishing agrees with it. If you pick a random recent anthropology textbook you're generally not going to see things that agree with you. As you're arguing against the current scientific viewpoint (which I have no issue with) the burden of proof does kind of rest on you.

Ethnicity now isn't considered to be what you're referring to as race. It has more to do with culture, ancestry, and nationality than anything else.

> better societies

As defined by who?

> whites and Asians being the most successful

Again, according to who? Major civilizations flourished in the Americas before colonization from Europe, Egypt for thousands of years was one of the biggest players in the Mediterranean. Egypt lasted longer than Rome.

A book you may be interested in in is The Fate of Africa. It does a good job of showing how fucked over the continent got by colonialism (and the botched ending of that) any why some of your viewpoints might seem to be supported (ie: why didn't Africa become like Europe if that's what's better).

Can you try to provide some recent peer reviewed work supporting your arguments?

Hardly, there were exclusive strands from the beginning as well but it's no secret that Jewish and Arab nationalism both lay claim to the same territory and that increased animosity between the two groups.

Edit: To further clarify Arab nationalists felt threatened by the existence of Jewish nationalism and this gave fuel to already extant hardliners who wanted to exclude Jews from "Arabness" and thus there was a massive uptick in anti-Jewish violence & legislation in the mid-twentieth century. Now this is a bit of generalization and there certainly were other factors that contributed to the exclusion of Jews from Arab nationalism which would become more apparent were we to start dissecting each individual Arab country but it was certainly a general trend. I'm not saying there wasn't plenty of persecution and discrimination prior to that, quite the opposite in fact if you would read the first half of my original comment, but I really don't think it should be controversial to say that relations between Jews and non-Jews have significantly worsened in the MENA region over the last century. All that I was trying to say was that in the first half of the 20th century it wasn't too uncommon to find Middle Eastern Jews who supported Arab national movements because those movements offered them the opportunity to overcome the societal and political disadvantages of Jewishness by embracing Arabness but as the century progressed it became harder and harder for them to do so.

You can see a similar trend in the Ottoman Empire before its collapse. Between the 1890's and 1917 it was very common for Jews to adopt the newly emergent Ottoman national identity for the same exact reasons, especially when they didn't qualify for extraterritorial citizenship of European countries. I highly recommend you read Becoming Ottomans by Cohen and Extraterritorial Dreams to understand that aspect of it.

But I got most of my info on the other stuff from the following resources:
A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations: From the Origins to the Present Day edited by Meddeb & Stora

The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times edited by Laskier, Simon & Reguer

North African Jewry in the Twentieth Century: The Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria by Laskier

Rick Atkinson has a trilogy of books he is working on about the US liberation of Europe in WW2. The first two are out and come highly recommended by many I speak with. I just started the second ("The Day of Battle") and can say it's pretty slick. The first book is called "An Army at Dawn."

Notice I said "de Gaulle" in my post, not "the French people". I got my information from actual books (maybe you've heard of them? Hey, if you can be condescending, so can I...) like An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle for instance. And no, it did not just become popular after 2001; see "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (1995).

I appreciate that the people of France have virtually always been friendly to Americans, but the same is decidedly not true of the French government.

If you go back historically, the French first discovered Uranium deposits back in the 1950's and Areva has been exploiting them since.

As far a s french interests go though, Niger is the country they are exploiting for Uranium. Mali doesn't seem to figure too much in their interests, at least at the moment.

It's more the deposits that were found in more exploitable areas along the Algerian border earlier this year I was thinking of rather than the existing, rather poor ones found in 2013 around Goa.

If you are convinced the idea of an Islamist insurgency though, I suggest you have a read around the historic Tuareg disputes with Algeria, Mali and Niger that deal mainly in the pre 2012 rebellions. The Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa by Jeremy Keenan would be a good introduction to the current background as is THE TUAREGS' REBELLIONS IN MALI AND NIGER AND THE U.S. GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR.

Thanks? I certainly don't think I've got an astounding knowledge of history. I've just been reading a history of postcolonial Africa (which everyone should read) and it's really shocked me with how the systemic issues of colonialism affected postcolonial African states.

I'm a dude.