Frantz Fanon was a French psychiatrist turned Algerian
revolutionary of Martinican origin, and one of the most important
and controversial thinkers of the postwar period. A veritable
"intellect on fire," Fanon was a radical thinker with
original theories on race, revolution, violence, identity and
agency.
This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas and legacy
of Fanon. Gibson explores him as a truly complex character in the
context of his time and beyond. He argues that for Fanon, theory
has a practical task to help change the world. Thus Fanon's
"untidy dialectic," Gibson contends, is a philosophy of
liberation that includes cultural and historical issues and visions
of a future society. In a profoundly political sense, Gibson asks
us to reevaluate Fanon's contribution as a critic of
modernity and reassess in a new light notions of consciousness,
humanism, and social change.
This is a fascinating study that will interest undergraduates
and above in postcolonial studies, literary theory, cultural
studies, sociology, politics, and social and political theory, as
well as general readers.
