The Blood of the Colony: Wine and the Rise and Fall of French Algeria by Owen White (review)

Owen White’s book, The Blood of the Colony: Wine and the Rise and Fall of French Algeria, looks at the French colonization of Algeria through the lens of viticulture. This unique perspective allows for a new picture of French colonization to come into view. Rather than focusing on a specific period of the colonization process, White tracks wine production in Algeria from the onset of the French invasion until the gradual elimination of wine production in post-independence Algeria. With particular attention drawn to the economic life of the colony, this book moves from typical scholarship on Algeria that tends to focus on the failure of the French colonial project or decolonization. In fact, White argues that through wine production, French Algeria was quite successful. Furthermore, White contends that French Algeria does not fit into typical paradigms of European colonies in Asia and Africa. The typical European colony was intended to be complementary to its metropole, oftentimes being a supplier of raw materials or being a new market for manufactured goods. While Algeria fits this paradigm to an extent, its chief export was manufactured wine, which at times directly competed with French wines in the metropole.