Frantz Fanon was born in Martinique in 1925 and studied medicine in France, specializing in psychiatry. He was sent to a hospital in Algeria, where his sympathies turned toward the rebels, whom he joined, becoming their most astute theorist.

In this illuminating book, Frantz Fanon reveals the various ways in which the people of Algeria, during the revolution, changed their centuries-old patterns of culture, or, conversely, embraced certain ancient forms of culture, or , conversely, embraced certain forms of culture long derided by their colonist oppressors as "primitive" in order to destroy their oppressors.

This volume of explicatory essays, while specifically focused on the fifth year of the Algerian Revolution, is just as rich in meaning today, since the methods and attitudes of the Algerian patriot's struggle are mirrored in the acts of anti-colonialist forces throughout the world - particularly in Vietnam.

It is a strong book, and an understanding of it will make clear to the Western reader why Fanon says that for the colonized, "having a gun is the only chance he still has of giving a meaning to his death."