A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history. Fanon's masterwork is a classic alongside Edward Said's Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

This book by Frantz Fanon is relevant today. The context of the book is Algeria and French colonialism, so it is interesting for anyone studying French colonialism in Algeria. However, the lessons are timeless.
Many countries suffered from colonialism and continue to struggle to find their national character in the post-colonial world.
Franz Fanton's writing, while balanced, conceals deep anger. There is anger he directs at the colonialists and towards native people who copy the colonialists and exploit their fellow citizens.
The last chapter, in which he talks about some of the mental problems arising from colonialism, is powerful.
The conclusion calls for his citizens to find themselves and not copy their old masters.
This book is brilliant and relevant today. ( )

Pretty amazing. The final chapter, talking about his experience dealing with those traumatised in various ways by colonialism and the war as well as the bullshit given as explanations of Algerian behaviour by French psychiatrists, is horrifying and incredible. He has a great writing style which is clear and gets you caught up in his ideas of liberation - although I sometimes wish he said more on certain issues or whatever, you get a very clear picture of what he thinks. His descriptions of the problems of decolonisation ring true today. Important stuff if you're at all interested in the topic. ( )

This was good, but dense, and I think I only absorbed a fraction of it, and will have to give it another go sometime. I honestly don't know how to begin rating or reviewing this kind of work. I kept finding parallels between what Fanon was saying about the colonized peoples, and the black population of North America, so argument for reparations hit a little deeper (especially after reading Te-Nehesi Coates essays and Ibram Kendi earlier this year).

His psychiatric case studies of the effects of colonization were also fascinating. It really shows the long term psychological effects of oppression. ( )

Hoy, el "tercer mundo" se enfrenta a la Europa que lo dominó como una masa colosal cuyo proyecto debe ser el de resolver los problemas a los que esa Europa no ha sabido dar solución. En un llamado patético, Fanon expone las consecuencias que trae a los nuevos pueblos la imitación de las instituciones europeas, la grandeza y las debilidades de la espontaneidad, las desventuras de la conciencia nacional, las perturbaciones del pensamiento que produce la guerra colonial, la impulsividad que lleva a la guerra por la liberación.