Born in 1920 on the edge of Tunis’s Jewish quarter, the French, Jewish, and Tunisian sociologist, philosopher, and novelist Albert Memmi has been a central figure in colonial and postcolonial studies. Often associated with the anticolonial struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, Memmi’s career has spanned fifty years, more than twenty book-length publications, and hundreds of articles that are distilled in this collection.

Albert Memmi passed away at the age of 99 in May. Jonathan Judaken wrote an obituary in Tablet Magazine highlighting Memmi’s long career. Judaken, along with Michael Lejman, have edited a new anthology that presents Memmi’s insights on the legacies of the colonial era, critical theories of race, and his own story as a French writer of Tunisian and Jewish descent, allowing readers to appreciate the full arc of one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century.

The Albert Memmi Reader includes selections from his classic works, such as The Pillar of Salt and The Colonizer and the Colonized, as well as previously untranslated pieces that punctuate Memmi’s literary life and career, illuminating the full arc of one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. Selections from his later works speak directly to contemporary issues in European, African, and Middle Eastern studies, such as racism, immigration and European identity, and the struggles of postcolonial states, including Israel/Palestine.

The book is available for pre-order now.