Scarce first US edition — and first edition in English — of this foundational anti-colonial text by a Black psychiatrist — from the collection of acclaimed novelist Larry McMurtry, with his bookplate.
Very good in a very good jacket.
Price: $1,250.00
"[C]olonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence."
THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH is an indispensable text of Black activism, written by "the most influential anticolonial thinker of his time" (Jansen and Osterhammel, 165). Frantz Fanon dictated the text to his wife Josie after his expulsion from Algeria, when he refused to continue to provide medical aid to French colonial soldiers. Bringing together psychology and philosophy, Fanon presents an overview of the cultural and physical damage that are at the heart of colonialism, and advocates for violent resistance: "The colonized man finds his freedom in and through violence" (67). He identifies non-violent resistance as a product of colonialism itself, "an attempt to settle the colonial problem around a green baize table" (49). The founders of the Black Power Movement and the Black Panther Party directly quoted THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH in official publications and manifestos, and more recently, an anti-colonial climate activism group selected its name based on the work. A nice copy of a scarce edition, with interesting provenance.
Read more: Catalogue of the Blockson Afro-American Collection, item 1912; Jan C. Jansen and Jürgen Osterhamme, Decolonization: A Short History.
First printing. New York: Grove Press, Inc, (1963). 8'' x 5.25''. Original brown cloth boards. Original unclipped ($5.00) black, white, and yellow typographical dust jacket, designed by Roy Kuhlman. 256 pages. Larry McMurty's personally designed bookplate on front pastedown. Ownership signature "Anne W. Forrester" penned to front free endpaper. Minor shelfwear, rubbing overall. Ac ouple short closed tears jacket. Some faint toning. Sound.
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