Inside the Battle of Algiers: Memoir of a Woman Freedom Fighter [Paperback]

This gripping insider’s account chronicles how and why a young woman in 1950s Algiers joined the armed wing of Algeria’s national liberation movement to combat her country’s French occupiers. When the movement’s leaders turned to Drif and her female colleagues to conduct attacks in retaliation for French aggression against the local population, they leapt at the chance. Their actions were later portrayed in Gillo Pontecorvo’s famed filmThe Battle of Algiers.When first published in French in 2013, this intimate memoir was met with great acclaim and no small amount of controversy. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not only the anti-colonial struggles of the 20th century and their relevance today, but also the specific challenges that women often confronted (and overcame) in those movements.

"Filled with rich detail of the socioeconomic, religious and political context of the period, Drif's account can serve as an engaging and accessible introduction to Algeria, settler colonialism, and national liberation wars for students, just as its amazing first-hand account of the role of one of the FLN's most important female fighters provides new insights and historical material for specialists." —Laurie Brand, Wright Professor, International Relations, University of Southern California

"The English translation of Zohra Drif’s memoirs is a publishing event. It makes available to a wider audience the life and times of an Algerian woman who was both actor in, and witness to, one of the 20th century’s most dramatic independence struggles." —Julia Clancy-Smith, Department of History, University of Arizona

"A narrative that is engrossing and provides a new, fresh look at a critical moment in Algerian history . . .  [Drif] will now be known to the world through her own eloquent words. Essential reading." —Miriam Cooke,ló,