Adventures in Algeria

In 1846, after his travels in Spain to attend the wedding of the Infanta in Madrid, Alexander Dumas was asked by the Minister of public Instruction in France to visit the country of Algeria, which had recently come under French control, and to publish his impressions so that Frenchmen would become better aquainted with that beautiful country. Dumas' first travel book on Switzerland had caused a marked increase in the number of French visiting that country, and the Ministry hoped that Dumas might do the same thing for Algeria.And so he went to Algeria and in his zestful, crackling style reported what he found there. Alexander Dumas proves himself to be a writer who abounds with the joy of life. None of his pages is ever dull. As fast as one set of characters is elbowed aside, others are roaring and laughing and fighting for our attention.