The Rebel's Clinic

"Absorbing . . . Shatz [. . .] is a mostly steady hand in turbulent waters. His chosen title highlights a side of Fanon that often gets eclipsed by the larger-than-life image of the zealous partisan — that of the caring doctor . . . What gives The Rebel’s Clinic its intellectual heft is Shatz’s willingness to write into such tensions."—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times Book Review

"A sensitive and affectionate biography."—Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal

"[A] nimble and engrossing new book . . . As Shatz shows in this exemplary work of public intellectualism, in which he does not sugarcoat or simplify, [Fanon] was every bit as much a victim of empire as the patients he worked to heal."—Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post

"[An] insightful biography . . . Shatz is a sober and informed guide [to Fanon]. He is an erudite writer, [and] his frequent detours into the intellectual currents that surrounded Fanon—from existentialism and the francophone black consciousness movement Négritude to Algerians’ varying attitudes to FLN tactics—are useful."—Daniel Trilling, Financial Times

"Shatz's book distinguishes itself by connecting Fanon's thought to the livewire debates facing us in 2024 . . . The themes of self-determination and dignity [Fanon] addressed in his work will be even more pressing for a rising generation of activists and thinkers . . . They will do well to read Shatz's satisfying biography."—Tomiwa Owolade, The New Statesman

“Excellent and thought-provoking . . . All too timely . . . The Rebel’s Clinic should be read by anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the intellectual origins of today’s ‘decolonial left,’ whether they sympathize with it or not.”—Adam Kirsch, Air Mail

"A sober and thorough new biography of Fanon . . . One gift of The Rebel’s Clinic is that it amplifies the radical nature of Fanon’s work within the hospital setting."—Sasha Frere-Jones, 4Columns

"The Rebel's Clinic is a diligent, scrupulous, serious book. Adam Shatz keeps Fanon alive as one of us—a human being—not simply the larger-than-life subject of an academic study. This book offers a careful reconstruction of Fanon's times, especially the war in Algeria, and resonates at a moment when we are tragically no closer to solving the problems Fanon dedicated his life and writing to understanding."—John Edgar Wideman, author of Fanon and Look for Me and I'll Be Gone

"Frantz Fanon has found his Isaac Deutscher in Adam Shatz. Politically and psychologically suave, The Rebel’s Clinic is as illuminating on the tragic pattern of Fanon’s private life as on the tumultuous continents through which he moved. It is also continuously insightful about Fanon's tormentingly complicated intellectual bequest on the crucial subjects of race and empire."—Pankaj Mishra, author of Run and Hide and From the Ruins of Empire

"Adam Shatz offers a richly detailed account of the life and thought of Frantz Fanon. It is at once an intimate and unsparing portrait of the complexities of Fanon’s life as psychiatrist and militant political activist, and a vivid depiction of the anti-colonial struggles in which he engaged. We get a close look at internal conflicts among revolutionaries, as Fanon makes his way from Martinique to Algeria to sub-Saharan Africa. Shatz’s masterful command of the history of that moment of promise in the early 1960s is compelling, indeed gripping reading. This is a book that gives deep insight not only into the life and times of Fanon, but also into the ways in which the history he lived was made."—Joan W. Scott, professor emerita at the Institute for Advanced Study

"The Rebel's Clinic is a triumph, a sweeping work of intellectual history that is also an intimate biography of a remarkable thinker and historical figure. It is beautifully written, deftly constructed, rigorous and illuminating. This is a book that will last and be read for many years."—Eyal Press, author of Dirty Work

"The Rebel’s Clinic is a fabulous book. Frantz Fanon’s life as portrayed by Adam Shatz is a breathtaking love and jealousy ridden encounter with philosophy, politics, and literature, taking place in the last days of European empires."—Ivan Krastev, author of Is It Tomorrow Yet? and co-author of The Light that Failed

"Adam Shatz has captured Fanon's evolution as a thinker by linking this proud, fastidious man's interiority to a complex network of contexts: family, war, art, psychiatry, existentialism, black America, left-wing Catholicism and, most of all, African poetics. The result is the most subtle, comprehensive and lucid study yet to appear in English.Shatz has the gift of explanation without simplification."—Declan Kiberd, author of Inventing Ireland

"More than a biography, Adam Shatz’s The Rebel’s Clinic is a rich and textured portrait of the intellectual and political worlds that shaped Frantz Fanon’s life, ideas, and legacies. Readers who know Fanon’s work intimately as well as those just discovering this iconic figure of Third World revolution will learn from this book."—Adom Getachew, author of Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination

"Adam Shatz sweeps us up in Frantz Fanon's life-as-road movie, with a cast of characters and an array of settings that come alive on the page, from Sartre and Beauvoir in Copacabana to Patrice Lumumba in the suburbs of Léopoldville. At the same time, with his unequaled mastery of geopolitics and world-spanning ideas, he has given us an intellectual history of a century of revolutionary aspirations. The Rebel's Clinic is a what is to be done for our times."—Alice Kaplan, author of The Collaborator and Looking for The Stranger

"The Rebel's Clinic is a fascinating and enlightening read, one that will speak to many and that will help correct misconceptions about Fanon. This book not only provides a full picture of its subject; it also inspires the reader to apply Fanon's insights to situations that transcend his life and times. Adam Shatz has written an important book that speaks to our troubled and confusing moment."—Raja Shehadeh, Orwell Prize–winning author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I
"[A] perceptive biography . . . Elucidating the ideas and figures that animated Fanon’s thinking, [. . .] the nuanced narrative skillfully illuminates how the disparate threads of Fanon’s life fit together . . . Shatz also provides discerning commentary on Fanon’s two masterworks . . . A striking appraisal of a towering thinker."—Publishers Weekly

"[A] thoroughly researched biography . . . The Rebel’s Clinic is a deep meditation on the transformative power and influence of one radical philosophical writer on the continuing fight for justice on many fronts."—Booklist (starred review)