The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon is a powerful book that explores the effects of colonization on both the people who are colonized and the colonizers. Fanon was a psychiatrist from Martinique who lived during the time when many countries in Africa and the Caribbean were fighting for independence from European colonial powers. The book was written in 1961, when the Algerian War of Independence was happening, and it focuses heavily on the violence and psychological impact of colonization as well as decolonization. Fanon starts by explaining how colonization harms the mental and emotional health of the people being colonized. He argues that colonial powers treat the colonized as inferior, which leads them to believe they are less human. This causes feelings of shame, low self-worth, and confusion about identity. Colonized people often try to imitate the ways of the colonizers, which makes them feel disconnected from their own culture. An important part of the book is Fanon’s argument that decolonization is not a peaceful process. He says that colonization is violent, and when colonized people fight back, it is also going to be violent. Fanon believes that liberation through violent struggle is necessary because it gives people back their dignity and identity. He also talks about how, after independence, many countries still face problems because the new leaders, often from the educated class, are disconnected from the everyday struggles of the people. This is a book about the lasting effects of colonization and the difficult, sometimes violent, struggle for true freedom. It encourages the oppressed to fight for their independence.