Frantz Fanon is known as one of the leading twentieth-century political thinkers and activists against colonialism and imperialism and as the author of essential texts such as The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks. Leo Zeilig here details the life of Fanon - from his upbringing in Martinique to his wartime experiences and work in Europe and North Africa - and frames his ideas and activism within the greater context of his career as a practising psychiatrist and his politically tumultuous surroundings. The book covers the period of the Algerian War of Independence, national liberation and what Fanon described 'the curse of independence'. Highlighting Fanon's role as the most influential theorist of anti-colonialism and racial liberation, this book is an essential work for students, academics and general readers.