Showing The French Foreign Legion by James Wellard

This brief book provides a good general history of the Legion from 1831 to the fall of Algeria. The main assets of this work are its good pictures and maps which help to illustrate the story of the Legion and its campaigns around the world. There is a nice introductory chapter which discusses the kinds of men who have always joined the Legion, and the popular images we have seen of it in fiction and cinema. The epilogue shows what has happened to the Legion since the fall of Algeria. The main chapters are a bit brief, but they do convey a general background. No longer a spear-head for French colonialism, the Legion faces a challenging future. Yet, the essence of what makes a Legionnaire, and the motivation for why he joins remains largely unchanged for over 170 years. For those wanting a good introduction to this fascinating topic this is a good book to start with.