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Lavishly illustrated with the author's own colour photographs, these letters from a young British university lecturer in Algeria paint a vivid picture of the former French colony ten years after its war of independence. Having defeated France, Algeria had unrivalled prestige among developing nations.
In October 1973, just after the author arrived, Algeria challenged the world by persuading other Arab oil-producers to initiate an oil embargo which shook the foundations of the international economy and whose impact is still felt today. The author's introduction sets the historical context.
The letters have been edited into themes so that they present a story. They give lively glimpses of day-to-day living in the spectacular cliff-top city of Constantine, university life and cultural events, amusing insights into the mysterious ways of the bureaucracy and the surprisingly difficult struggle to get paid, a trip to the heart of the Algerian oilfield in the desert, visits to Roman antiquities. There are also hints of the tensions between secular ideals and religious fundamentalism which would lead Algeria into civil war in the 1990s. The letters provide a view of a fascinating country emerging into freedom at a time of optimism in the aftermath of independence, when everything seemed possible.
About the author
David Cheesman was brought up in India, Ghana, Nigeria, Jersey and Turkey, and mostly educated in England. His first job was as a Lecturer in English at the University of Constantine, Algeria. He has a PhD in South Asian history from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and has published academic articles and a book on the economic and social history of Sindh in Pakistan, as well as papers about decolonisation in Africa, community cohesion in the UK, and Islam and secularism in Britain and France. He was an external examiner and Visiting Professor of Society and Development at Sheffield Hallam University. During the 1980s, he carried out efficiency initiatives in the court service of England, Wales and Northern Ireland as a member of the Lord Chancellor's management scrutiny team, and later ran the UK government's urban programme for inner city development in Hackney and Southwark. As Head of Policy and Research at the Housing Corporation, the government agency formerly responsible for regulating social housing in England, he operated a £2m per year research programme, directing over 200 projects designed to support and improve housing policy. He has arranged, chaired or spoken at numerous national and international seminars and conferences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Statistical Society, and a member of the American Statistical Association.He now advises on the regulation of UK financial services and is a Director of Equality in Diversity, an independent research, management and training consultancy. He is Vice Chair and former Chair of Squared Housing Association, founder Secretary of the United Nations Association - Luton Branch and the Patron of Purbachal-the eastern sky, a Bangladeshi cultural organisation based in Luton.
