This unique volume tells the story of the Algerian counterrevolution from the viewpoint of the ordinary foot soldier in the O.A.S. (Organisation Armee Secrete). In a series of interviews with former O.A.S. participants, and using many unpublished documents and personal diaries, Harrison examines the motives of these defenders of French Algeria. Were they criminals, sociopaths, or honorable men more sensitive to their country's fate than were many of their contemporaries? Harrison poses this question in the book's introduction and then seeks the answer with an objective eye.

Challenging...