There is also the major problem of perspective; in terms of time it falls between the two stools of being neither, strictly speaking, history nor non-vintage contemporary events. I am conscious of the warnings of several participants in the story, including President Bourguiba of Tunisia, that “un peu plus de recul” might be necessary before any definitive account of the Algerian War could be written.

XREF: Connects to how contemporary history writing faces inherent problems of perspective and distance — parallels debates in journalism and historiography about when events can be objectively analyzed.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 11