Mecca of Revolution

[S]tands out in how clearly the author demonstrates both the vibrancy of post-imperial possibilities and the process by which this openness to transnational possibilities disappeared into a single state-centred vision....[O]ffers insights to African, Cold War and International historians, as well as scholars of internationalism. * Elizabeth Banks, Centre for the Study of Internationalism *
Mecca of Revolution should make a lasting impact in fields including the study of mid-century decolonization movements, Third World internationalism, and the global Cold War, among others. * Jeffrey S. Ahlman, African Studies Quarterly *
This is an important book, a substantial contribution to scholarship both in terms of the archival sources which it brings to light and the framework of analysis which it sets up to be applied and tested in other cases. * Natalya Vince, Reviews in History *
[T]his book offers a fascinating glimpse of how North-South questions often came into conflict with East-West logics, foregrounding the multilateral nature of non-alignment. In a field that has often studied Algeria's policies through the prism of France, this book is a groundbreaking intervention. * Muriam Haleh Davis, Journal of Interdisciplinary History *
[This] book offers a fascinating glimpse of how North-South questions often came into conflict with East-West logics, foregrounding the multilateral nature of non-alignment. In a field that has often studied Algeria's policies through the prism of France, this book is a groundbreaking intervention. * Muriam Haleh Davis, Journal of Interdisciplinary History *
[A]n expansive and excellent history of Third World internationalism detailing the era from the Bandung Conference of 1955 to the overthrow of President Ahmed Ben Bella ten years later...It is a welcomed and valuable addition to the histories of Algeria, France, the Third World, the Cold War, and North-South and South-South relations. Its breadth is admirable...Professor Byrne's international archival research is impressive. He not only locates Algeria at multiple diplomatic 'interstices' bridging countries and continents (p. 251), but also himself * a courageous, ambitious endeavor resulting in a considerable, erudite achievement.Phillip C. Naylor, The International Journal of African Historical Studies *
Innovative and thought-provoking...This book...will certainly become a standard in discussions on the global Cold War, decolonization and Third World politics...An important intervention in several ongoing debates in international relations and diplomatic history. * Moritz Feichtinger, H-Soz-Kult *
A conceptually-refreshing narrative that refocuses attention on the statist, regional, and global politics of liberation movements and South-South diplomacy in the mid-twentieth century...Byrne offers a corrective to the dominant narrative of the Cold War * Dina Matar, Diplomatic History *
Byrne's study is an important contribution to our understanding of the realpolitik of lesser sovereign states whose liberation thrust them into Cold War battlefronts. It gets us closer to a more analytic view of this world, the ideological battle lines of which still enshroud our thinking Mecca of Revolution will remain indispensable reading for anyone wishing to understand Global South-South relations after colonial liberation. * American Historical Review *
Recommended. * CHOICE *
Jeffrey Byrne has written a book that definitively places Algeria at the center of the Third World Project. His sources are as wide as his geographical reach, bringing this remarkable experiment in national liberation to life in an age when distress is the mode of discourse about the Global South. * Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South *
Jeffrey Byrne has found a way around the mountainous obstacles to writing innovatively in the twenty-first century about twentieth-century decolonization, diplomacy, and the building of authoritarian states: the lack of archival sources, the mistake of confusing what officials in Washington (or Paris or London) thought with reality, and, not least, the myths that have grown up around one or another 'movement' in the so-called 'Third World' or 'Global South.' Follow him to Mecca of Revolution. * Robert Vitalis, author of White World Order, Black Power Politics: The Birth of American International Relations *
Byrne's elegant work demonstrates that anti-colonial agendas, ideas, and networks did not disappear when the Great Powers withdrew troops and lowered flags overseas. He argues that a cosmopolitan internationalism predated empire's bloody demise and nurtured Third Worldism. This is among the first studies to view decolonization from within, below, and across multiple points in the world. * Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona *
Algeria occupied a crucial place during a pivotal period in international history, as revolutionary movements challenged the last vestiges of European colonialism, independent power centers emerged in Asia and Europe, and the US and USSR began groping toward a new relationship to preserve their preeminence. Mecca of the Revolution helps us rethink all of these relationships. Based on amazing research, it is a highly original and important work of scholarship. * Matthew Connelly, Columbia University *