UPDATE: While this campaign has closed, The Algerian Dream is still available for pre-order here via Ibn Ibn Battuta.

Story of My Book

The Algerian Dream is the story of an ambitious young generation pursuing their dreams against all odds—and reshaping their society in the process.

My name is Andrew G. Farrand, and I am the author of The Algerian Dream. For the last seven years, I had the privilege of living and working in Algeria and getting to know many young Algerians along the way. Algeria is North Africa’s sleeping giant: a vast yet isolated country that almost never makes international headlines. Few outsiders know or understand the complex dynamics driving recent events there—including the peaceful revolution that swept Algeria in 2019 and that remains unresolved today.

I wrote this book to share with the world the fascinating transformations I witnessed firsthand in Algeria, with a focus on the young people who are increasingly pressing for change from the bottom up.

My hope is that, in reading this book, you will discover what makes Algeria the most mesmerizing yet perplexing, the most beguiling yet frustrating, and the most peculiar country on Earth, yet one that still holds universal lessons. In the book, you will learn about:

• Why young Algerians yearn for genuine political voice, yet boycott every election
• The slow collapse of public services, and my own encounters with Algeria’s medical system
• How vast oil wealth has enriched officials and financed the world’s most expensive highway, but failed to trickle down
• What I learned among the crowds of Algeria’s peaceful protest movement—and from the backlash it provoked
• How young people grapple with historical legacies of valor and violence, torn between embracing or escaping them
• Young Algerians’ profound sense of justice, and their dreams of dignified lives in their homeland
• ...and much more!

Whether you know nothing about Algeria or are Algerian yourself, you will find much to love in this book. Curious minds and critical thinkers will enjoy diving deep into a fascinating context largely unknown to the outside world, and pondering the social, political, cultural, and economic forces that shape human societies.

The Algerian Dream is a non-fiction book combining rich analysis with poignant, outlandish, and sometimes humorous stories from my years in Algeria. Written for popular audiences rather than academic ones, The Algerian Dream invites readers to plunge into this unique country and emerge with new insights about the dynamics driving our modern world.

Inside the Book

The Algerian Dream weaves first-person stories, interviews, and analysis in a style already familiar to readers of my blog.

• The book begins with a Prologue and Introduction to set the scene, explain how in the world I ended up in Algeria, and introduce Algeria’s ambitious young generations. It presents eight key pillars—from political voice to cultural expression, justice to economic opportunity—that young Algerians consider essential to a dignified life.
• Part One (Chapters 1 through 8) examines these eight pillars in detail, exploring what exactly young Algerians expect—and where their society has or has not satisfied those expectations. It focuses on the critical interim period that followed the Arab Spring—and that built pressure for a very different sort of revolution.
• Part Two (Chapters 9 through 12) dissects the peaceful protest movement that ignited in 2019, its causes and implications, the changes it wrought, and the counter-reactions it provoked. It examines the hirak protest movement’s evolution in the face of government repression, a global pandemic, and other shocks, and what it all means for Algeria's future.

What I Need & What You Get

I have launched this pre-sale campaign to offset the initial costs of publishing my book with New Degree Press. The funds raised will cover:

• The Editor I am working with to revise my manuscript and publish in April 2021
• The Cover Design of my book (The images you see now are just placeholders!)
• The Layout Design for my book’s interior text and images
• The Copy Editing for my book, in order to polish it to perfection
• The Launch & Promotion Efforts around my book’s publication this spring

Once I pre-sell 120 copies of my book, I will be able to publish. I hope you will help me reach that goal, so I am offering several packages with exclusive extras to those who pre-order my book now. Several add-ons are also available:

• Print sets of my favorite award-winning film photographs from Algeria
• A private Author Book Talk with me, at your convenience
• Opportunities to attend a Virtual Book Launch Event, and to help me choose the book's final cover

About the Author

Andrew G. Farrand lives in the borderlands between different peoples and cultures, working to bridge those gaps and build shared understanding.

For the last seven years, Andrew pursued that mission in Algeria, where he managed youth development programs alongside his own creative projects. Over time, he became a well-known blogger, travel writer, translator, photographer, and media personality.

Andrew regularly shares his insights and passion for foreign cultures and societies on his blog, Ibn Ibn Battuta. He is the translator of Inside the Battle of Algiers (Just World Books, 2017) by Zohra Drif, a contributor to Uncommon Alger (Uncommon Books, 2016), and author of numerous articles on Algeria. After years of appearing in viral online videos and on Algerian TV, in 2020 he served as host of "Andi Hulm," Algeria’s first entrepreneurship reality TV show.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland (United States), Andrew is a graduate of Georgetown University and is proficient in French and Algerian Arabic, or darija. Along with his wife Nina and dogs Bourek and Chorba, he currently lives in Germany, where nobody seems to understand his darija.

For more information, visit ibnibnbattuta.com or contact Andrew at ibnibnbattuta@gmail.com.

Risks & Challenges

Once editing is complete and the book heads to the presses, the next task is to get your signed copies into your hands. I have built shipping costs into the campaign’s pricing structure to enable your copies to reach you in a timely fashion.

The exact shipping date will depend on my publisher. I will work closely with New Degree Press to ensure that your signed books reach you as early as possible. I will also update you on the progress of this campaign and my road toward publication more generally, so that you will know when your books are on the way.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you’re not in a position to contribute by purchasing the book, you can still help out!

• Share this Pre-sale Campaign with your friends, family and network via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. (Pro tip: Use #TheAlgerianDream and tag me and my publisher, New Degree Press, so we can spread the word further!)
• Send a brief message to any friends, family, or colleagues who you know would love this book, to let them know about this Pre-Sale Campaign.

To everyone who supports this project, thank you so much!

With gratitude,
Andrew