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Ted Morgan and My Battle of Algiers


Ma bataille d’Alger 
de Ted Morgan, 
Tallandier editions, France (17 mars 2016, pp. 352)

translated from the English into French by Alfred de Montesquiou, reporter for Paris Match.


In 2006, prominent journalist Ted Morgan published his memoirs of his military service with the French army, spent in Algeria between 1956 and 1957. His book went largely unnoticed in Algeria then, but its translated version into French just published by Tallendier editions has created quite a bit of stir. Mostly in a tea cup.

My review in French of his memoirs can be found here on TSA : 

Ma Bataille d’Alger, le témoignage du grand journaliste américain Ted Morgan, présent en Algérie durant la période de la bataille d’Alger en tant qu’appelé de l’armée française, vient de paraître en France aux éditions Tallandier (Mars 2016).

Cette parution est en fait la traduction de son récit My Battle of Algiers publié en 2006, aux États Unis chez Harper Collins. Dans cet ouvrage, Ted Morgan parle de ce qui l’a mené à faire son service militaire en Algérie entre 1956 et 1957, et comment il s’est retrouvé témoin des événements autour et durant la bataille d’Alger.

Le nom sous lequel l’auteur est né est « Sanche de Gramont ». Ted Morgan est l’anagramme de son patronyme « de Gramont » que l’auteur a définitivement adopté lorsqu’il acquiert la nationalité américaine en 1970. Morgan est issu d’une famille de l’ancienne noblesse française qui remonte au XIe siècle, les « de Gramont », dont les ancêtres ont été maréchaux, officiers généraux et ducs de France.

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