THE BATTLE FOR ALGERIA, sovereignty, health care, and humanitarianism

270pp., illus., hardback, d.w., Philadelphia, 2016

"Jennifer Johnson's excellent new book augments the internationalization of our understanding of the Algerian war by showing how important health and humanitarianism were to it. With archivally rooted contributions on how Algerian nationalists built a health program and how international humanitarian concern - including the Red Crescent - played an important role in arguments for sovereignty, The Battle for Algeria breaks new ground. Appeals to the need for health care and complaints over the violation of the human body were frequent, Johnson powerfully demonstrates, in the war for public opinion that ultimately shifted the conflict." Samuel Moyn, Harvard University, author of Christian Human Rights

"With her careful scholarship Johnson focuses on how the Front de Libe'ration Nationale (FLN) sought international support for its campaign through the rhetoric-though limited practice - of healthcare for Algerians, as well as diplomatic missions to the newly independent nations of the Arab world, Asia, and, specifically, the United Nations ... Johnson's narrative is absorbing. Her book draws on interviews and archives to enrich the complexity of the existing narrative and is a further contribution to understanding the war from the perspective of winning over world opinion." French Studies

Jennifer Johnson teaches history at Brown University.