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Herbert W. Mason

This Never Happened! by Herbert Mason
Publisher: Lulu
Downloadable via Amazon.com, 564kb

This is a historical novel of an aspiring American journalist and an activist French woman as they live through crises together in the Paris of the Algerian War period.  Their personal lives intersect a dramatic clash between a French diplomat Inspector of Prisons caught in a tragic dilemma and a noted Islamicist scholar. The latter, Louis Massignon, together with writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Francois Mauriac, form a triumvirate against the “fratricidal war”. Their leadership in massive public demonstrations and outcries against injustice and torture culminate in historic secret meetings between the scholar and General DeGaulle. The young couple’s active participation in these non-violent but controversial and daring actions for peace reveal unusual Muslim and French friendships and portraits of extraordinary human heroism.The novel develops through their personal encounters and witnessed events into a large panorama of dramatic situations and tragic consequences.