The Wretched of the Earth

Outline

The Wretched of the Earth (1961) is a powerful analysis of colonialism and its psychological, social, and political effects on colonised peoples. Writing during the Algerian War of Independence, Frantz Fanon defends the struggle for liberation and warns that newly independent nations could be betrayed by self-serving local elites. The book became one of the most influential texts of the anticolonial movements of the twentieth century.

• Colonialism harms colonised peoples in their minds and social lives as well as through political control.
• Fanon wrote the book during the Algerian War of Independence and defends the struggle for liberation.
• Newly independent nations can be betrayed by local elites who put their own interests first.
• The book became one of the most influential texts of twentieth-century anticolonial movements.

Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was a psychiatrist, philosopher, and political thinker born in Martinique. He worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria and joined the Algerian struggle for independence. His other books include Black Skin, White Masks.