Owen White is Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is author of Children of the French Empire: Miscegenation and Colonial Society in French West Africa, 1895-1960 and coeditor of In God's Empire: French Missionaries and the Modern World.
White describes the economics of the Algerian wine business in
revealing detail. -- Richard Vinen * Literary Review *
With the publication of Owen White's magisterial study, we have a
comprehensive overview of the vine and wine in Algeria that makes
use of new archival collections and new methodological
approaches...An essential read for anyone interested in French
wine, environment, race, and the aggressive capitalism of
imperialism. -- Kolleen M. Guy * Social History *
White brilliantly unveils the remarkable story of how Algeria
became the world's fourth-largest wine-producer, before the
industry's post-Independence reduction to insignificance...A
fascinating and important study which may be warmly recommended to
all those with an interest in the complex legacy of France's
colonial presence in Algeria. -- Philip Dine * French Studies *
Handily brings together a history of wine-from unpromising
beginnings, through phylloxera and the subsequent surge in
production, to the travails of the interwar years and the eventual
demise of viniculture-with a history of settler colonialism and all
its contradictions...White has performed an admirable job and has
served up a monograph that is scholarly in the best sense but also
a real pleasure to read. -- Paul Nugent * Journal of Wine Economics
*
White traces France's role in turning a largely Muslim country into
a powerhouse wine producer before abandoning the vines when the
country gained independence in 1962. Told with energy and riveting
detail, it's a fascinating-and sobering-tale that touches on issues
of politics, race relations, economics and environmental
sustainability that remain integral to the conversation around wine
today. * Wine and Spirits *
A tour de force. This lively book explores the centrality of
vineyards and wine to Algeria's economy and society in a revealing,
long-neglected story about the crown jewel in France's colonial
empire. White uses wine to shed new light on Algeria's links with
France, colonial labor relations, capitalism, and trade. He also
engages with the history of science and technology and
environmental studies while providing insight into a devastating
war of decolonization and its fallout. -- Eric T. Jennings, author
of Escape from Vichy: The Refugee Exodus to the French
Caribbean
Deeply researched and elegantly written, this is the first major
work on wine in Algeria, which is surprising given the extent to
which Algeria helped rescue the French wine industry from the
crisis of phylloxera. White tells a story that is at once
French and Algerian, but also global, seamlessly weaving together
histories of agriculture, labor, political economy, environment,
migration, race, and colonial governance. I highly recommend this
erudite and compelling book. -- Mary Dewhurst Lewis, author of
Divided Rule: Sovereignty and Empire in French Tunisia,
1881-1938
A beautifully researched and lucidly written book. Explaining how
and why wine became the lifeblood of French Algeria, White tacks
gracefully between the local and the global, weaving social,
economic, and political history into a comprehensive portrait of a
settler society. A commodity history that is also a concise,
accessible account of French colonization in North Africa and its
legacies. -- Jennifer E. Sessions, author of By Sword and Plow:
France and the Conquest of Algeria
In tracing the emergence of Euro-Algerian viticulturalists and the
wine industry they developed, White achieves a sweeping view of
French colonialism in Algeria grounded in the everyday experiences
of those who made and unmade the Algerian wine industry. Innovative
in approach and impressive in scope, this important book will
garner a wide readership. -- Elizabeth Heath, author of Wine,
Sugar, and the Making of Modern France
A superb, elegantly written history of colonial Algeria's immense
wine industry and its complex relationship to mainland France. In
this landmark work in the history of empire, labor, and capitalism,
White covers the full span of Algeria's tumultuous colonial past,
from French conquest to the first years of national independence. A
tremendous achievement. -- Herrick Chapman, author of France's
Long Reconstruction: In Search of the Modern Republic
This wonderfully insightful book shows us how wine production in
Algeria became integral to France's colonization project. As White
makes clear, wine exports reconfigured Algeria's economy within a
fabric of colonial dependency. Little wonder that vineyards figured
among the most decisive battlegrounds of the Algerian revolution.
From start to finish, the detail is brilliant, the conclusions
powerful. -- Martin Thomas, author of Fight or Flight: Britain,
France, and Their Roads from Empire
Through the prism of a single commodity, White offers new insights
into the economics and cultural significance of French settler
colonialism. An elegant and illuminating study. -- David Todd,
author of A Velvet Empire: French Informal Imperialism in the
Nineteenth Century
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