North for the trade

In this fascinating and immensely readable book the author seeks to outline some of the social and economic changes that have taken place in Morocco between the establishment of the French Protectorate and the present day. This he attempts to do by describing the traditional background and the personal experiences of an individual Berber, a grocer from the valley of the Sous in southern Morocco who, under the pseudonym of Hadj Brahim, is allowed to do a good deal of the talking himself. In a series of vivid and often amusing reminis- cences he tells how he started work in his uncle's shop in Tangier in 1925, fought against the French invaders of his native valley in 1934, set up his own grocery business in Casa- blanca in 1935, and how he lived through and actively participated in the series of events which finally led to Moroccan independence and the accelerated social and economic changes which were to follow. The method employed by the author is highly successful, resulting in a varied and stimulating account which will be of interest not only to students of the social sciences but to all those who con- cern themselves with North African affairs. -- James Bynon in http://www.jstor.org (Sep. 16, 2016).