Stn. Liven a very angry author, reaching tor his typewriter
to answer a critical review, might first read what the reviewer wrote. In 4 Scattering of Dust, Mr. Herb Green indicated that the 1945 Skif rising was provoked by the French tiring on an Algerian crowd demonstrating its joy at the Allied victory in Europe: 1 called this story naive, and I am sure anyone reading the careful accounts of authors like Germaine Tillion or Edward Behr—no apologists for French officialdom—will see exactly what I mean. I took care not to apply the word naïve to Mr. Green's description of the French repression of the rising, which I have not the slightest inclination to excuse.
Mr. Green also says or implies that 'good French- men' can properly be ignored, since they failed: that France has recognised Algeria's right to independence only because of the cost of the war; and that the FLN bears no responsibility whatever for the failure to reach a settlement earlier. 1 am afraid his letter only confirms my impression that he has a generous Sympathy for the ex-underdog but a one-sided and single-minded view of the 'obvious facts.'
PHILIP WILLIAMS
Iv uffteld College, Oxford
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