Rating: 
Summary: The author at his best.
Review: I've read most of this author's works. His trilogy--The Fall of Paris, The Price of Glory, To Lose a Battle---is excellent, but the author reaches his pinnacle in "Savage War". He shows a masterful understanding of politics, strategy, tactics, and national feeling. I have met men who served under Salan, Massu, and Challe, and the portrayals of these leaders by the author harmonize with what I've been told. The subject may seem remote in time and in interest, but the author has written a gripping story, and also gets "down and dirty" into the details. This is a rewarding book for anyone with an interest in military as well as political history.
Rating:
Summary: Adeiu, Algerie Francaise
Review: Of all Horne's French histories, this is probably the most epic. The bleeding sore that was French Algeria led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic and almost led, on three separate occasions, to a right-wing military takeover of all metropolitan France. On the other side, the ruthlessly bloody tactics of the Algerian nationalist party, FLN, make the Viet Cong look chivalrous by comparison. There are many memorable characters in this story, including the pied noir supporters (Massu, Soustelle), the French Army leaders (Challe, Salan), and the Algerian leaders (Abbas, Ben Bella, Boumedienne). But the giant of the Algerian story is and will remain General Charles De Gaulle. His political comeback in 1958, during which he founded the Fifth Republic and made his historic address ("Je vous ai compris!") to the pied noirs, bisects the whole narrative: this book falls cleanly into two sections (before and after May 1958), and De Gaulle's leadership in extricating France out of this morass was and remains monumental.
Rating:
Summary: Adeiu, Algerie Francaise
Review: Of all Horne's French histories, this is probably the most epic. The bleeding sore that was French Algeria led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic and almost led, on three separate occasions, to a right-wing military takeover of all metropolitan France. On the other side, the ruthlessly bloody tactics of the Algerian nationalist party, FLN, make the Viet Cong look chivalrous by comparison. There are many memorable characters in this story, including the pied noir supporters (Massu, Soustelle), the French Army leaders (Challe, Salan), and the Algerian leaders (Abbas, Ben Bella, Boumedienne). But the giant of the Algerian story is and will remain General Charles De Gaulle. His political comeback in 1958, during which he founded the Fifth Republic and made his historic address ("Je vous ai compris!") to the pied noirs, bisects the whole narrative: this book falls cleanly into two sections (before and after May 1958), and De Gaulle's leadership in extricating France out of this morass was and remains monumental.
Rating:
Summary: sheerest dramatic tragedy
Review: This is a superlative book, and one you won't soon forget. I read it in June of 1978 and it still haunts me. This puts the Algeria tragedy all together, and I found a most dramatic telling
Rating:
Summary: sheerest dramatic tragedy
Review: This is a superlative book, and one you won't soon forget. I read it in June of 1978 and it still haunts me. This puts the Algeria tragedy all together, and I found a most dramatic telling
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