Mahmoud El Materi: Pionnier de la Tunisie Moderne

English summary: After lengthy and painstaking research conducted in familial and national archives, Anissa El Materi Hached paints an intimate and detailed portrait of one of modern Tunisia's pioneers - the renowned leader in Tunisia's fight for independence and the first President of the Neo-Destour Party, Dr. Mahmoud El Materi. As a military man and politically engaged individual destined from his early years to a career in medicine, Mahmoud El Materi played a role in the lives of all those close to him that was no less imposing than the one which he would play in 20th-century Tunisian history. His daughter's testimony, through "snapshot" comments about a family life often disrupted by the demands of politics suddenly brings us much closer to this man than to the one we see simultaneously caught up in his larger destiny.Whether discussing Tunis after the Liberation, the reform undertaken by the initiators of the fight for independence, the obstacles which they immediately had to confront, or the circumstances surrounding the disagreements with Bourguiba and his decision not to withdraw from politics, the inescapable clarifications which this book provides are required reading for anyone wishing to understand a special era and its protagonists. French description: Al'appui d'un long et patient travail a partir des archives familiales et nationales, Anissa El Materi Hached dresse le portrait intime et detaille d'un des pionniers de la Tunisie moderne, illustre acteur de l'Independance et premier president du Neo-Destour, le docteurMahmoud El Materi.

Homme de combat et d'engagement, se destinant tres tot a une carriere de medecin, Mahmoud El Materi a occupe dans la vie de tous les siens une place non moins imposante que dans l'histoire tunisienne du XXe siecle. Le temoignage de sa fille, a travers les instantanes d'une vie de famille souvent bousculee par les exigences de la vie politique, nous rend soudain plus proches de cet homme que nous voyons dans le meme temps happe par une destinee immense.

Sur le Tunis de la Liberation, sur l'oeuvre reformatrice engagee par les premiers acteurs de l'Independance et les entraves qui leur sont aussitot opposees enfin sur les circonstances des desaccords avec Bourguiba et son retrait des affaires, ce sont autant de revelations, de mises au point desormais incontournables qui nous sont apportees ici, necessaires a la comprehension d'une epoque et de ses protagonistes.