Review of A Dream For Peace
Posted: 08 Mar 2023, 01:30
[Following is a volunteer review of "A Dream For Peace" by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah.]
Many of us, while growing up, only listened to stories about colonizing and what people experienced during that time—the wars, the sufferings—but all in all, they were just stories to us. Luckily for us, we did not get to experience such. This book gives us an insight into what it was like during those times.
Dr. Ghoulem Berrah was born in Aïn Beïda, a small town in the province of Constantine, beneath the Aurès Mountains, in northeastern Algeria. At the time, the government of France had annexed my country as a part of the French mainland. This is a story about the rise to independence of Algeria.
A Dream for Peace is a nonfiction book written by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah. It takes us on a journey with Berrah in his early days, from the time when the French colonial masters were still present in Algeria up to the time of Algeria's independence from France. I liked so many things about this book. It was inspiring, as I got to know more about what colonialism really was, aside from the stories that had been told to me when I was younger. The flow of the story even made the book all the more interesting, and I would rather not take my eyes off it as each page went by. Algeria was divided into three departments: Algiers was in the center, Oran was in the west, and Constantine was in the eastern department, where Berrah was born. The tribe of his father, Hamadi Berrah, were the Saighi, which had its origins in the hotbed of rebellious Arabized Berbers who marched to the beat of their drums. His father was a jeweler who got married to his mother, Lalla Zebida, who was barely a teenager at the time.
Another thing I liked about this book was how the Algerian culture and traditions were well represented. The most fascinating thing to me, as it was to Berrah, were the wedding feast celebrations. It was said that some wedding festivities lasted for a whole week, with various events and public displays going on to entertain the crowd. The ones I was most attracted to were the cavalier horsemen, who were always ready to put on a spectacular show with their shiny rifles. The shows they put on at that time made a young Berrah dream of becoming Aïn Beïda’s most famous acrobatic rider someday.
What I disliked about this book was the use of words that I found difficult to understand and had to go check for their meaning. It made the reading quite stressful. I would rate this book four out of five stars because of my dislike of the book, as mentioned above. I did not find any errors, which means the book was exceptionally well-edited. Furthermore, I recommend this book to readers who would like to know more about history.
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A Dream For Peace
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Many of us, while growing up, only listened to stories about colonizing and what people experienced during that time—the wars, the sufferings—but all in all, they were just stories to us. Luckily for us, we did not get to experience such. This book gives us an insight into what it was like during those times.
Dr. Ghoulem Berrah was born in Aïn Beïda, a small town in the province of Constantine, beneath the Aurès Mountains, in northeastern Algeria. At the time, the government of France had annexed my country as a part of the French mainland. This is a story about the rise to independence of Algeria.
A Dream for Peace is a nonfiction book written by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah. It takes us on a journey with Berrah in his early days, from the time when the French colonial masters were still present in Algeria up to the time of Algeria's independence from France. I liked so many things about this book. It was inspiring, as I got to know more about what colonialism really was, aside from the stories that had been told to me when I was younger. The flow of the story even made the book all the more interesting, and I would rather not take my eyes off it as each page went by. Algeria was divided into three departments: Algiers was in the center, Oran was in the west, and Constantine was in the eastern department, where Berrah was born. The tribe of his father, Hamadi Berrah, were the Saighi, which had its origins in the hotbed of rebellious Arabized Berbers who marched to the beat of their drums. His father was a jeweler who got married to his mother, Lalla Zebida, who was barely a teenager at the time.
Another thing I liked about this book was how the Algerian culture and traditions were well represented. The most fascinating thing to me, as it was to Berrah, were the wedding feast celebrations. It was said that some wedding festivities lasted for a whole week, with various events and public displays going on to entertain the crowd. The ones I was most attracted to were the cavalier horsemen, who were always ready to put on a spectacular show with their shiny rifles. The shows they put on at that time made a young Berrah dream of becoming Aïn Beïda’s most famous acrobatic rider someday.
What I disliked about this book was the use of words that I found difficult to understand and had to go check for their meaning. It made the reading quite stressful. I would rate this book four out of five stars because of my dislike of the book, as mentioned above. I did not find any errors, which means the book was exceptionally well-edited. Furthermore, I recommend this book to readers who would like to know more about history.
******
A Dream For Peace
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon