‘Algeria Is Beautiful Like America’ Offers an Uncomfortably Necessary Trek Through Self Healing and Colonization

Writer: Olivia Burton / Artist: Mahi Grand / Lion Forge Algeria Is Beautiful Like America was nothing like I expected from the abstract. Honestly, it shook me to the core. Olivia Burton takes readers on her personal journey of self-healing and delves into a serious commentary on race relations and colonization along the way. First, let me say that this book has almost nothing to do with America. But anyone reading this, including Americans, will relate to the beauty and bitterness of Burton’s revelations.

The History in the Mirror I think that the relatability is part of what made this book so difficult to read. Counterintuitive, I know. But the righteous anger of the oppressed is something we are conditioned to avoid. The guilt of the colonizer, specifically that of the descendants of colonizing forces who are taught the errors of history, is something too difficult for many to wrestle with. Yet Burton does not shy away from these feelings. She shares all the layers of her family, her history, and her experience that have informed her life and identity. After Olivia’s grandmother passes away, the author begins to closely examine the parts of her family history that don’t always make sense. Using her grandmother’s words and the family’s collected memories of Algeria, Olivia sets out to (re)discover a country that might or might not be truly hers. We see her struggle with labels that her family unwittingly put upon her. There are questions that are hard to ask and answers tha…