The subtitle of Adam Shatz’s new biography, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, suggests that his life was not so simple. Fanon’s parents identified so deeply with the French Republic that they behaved “more French than the French,” Shatz writes. It was not until Fanon joined the Free French Forces in World War II that his faith in European civilization was shaken. Following an FLN expedition to Mali to assess the possibility of a weapons corridor to southern Algeria, Fanon fell ill and was diagnosed with leukemia. Shatz does suggest that one aspect of Fanon’s work is most relevant for our world today.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 10, 2024 16:43 UTC