This paper reviews the recent historiography of the sixties and seventies in the Maghrib to shed light on histories of radical engagement under authoritarianism. This blind spot concerns the first and second generations of Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians after independence who saw their modernist aspirations frustrated by their nationalist leaders. This paper will address the nebula of leftists, students, workers and intellectuals during these two decades whose attempts to remain off the regimes’ radars meant insufficient scholarship on their contribution to their countries’ nation-building. The events of 2011 have sparked an interest in re-examining local radical traditions in and out of the region, by making use of unconventional sources and materials that include memoirs, cultural journals and oral testimonies. Two groups stand out in this recent renewal: Perspectives/Amel Tounsi in Tunisia and Souffles/Anfas in Morocco. These renewed efforts have addressed the profiles of their members, their cultural productions and their modes of action and shed light on their contributions to nation-building. They have opened a path for others to write the histories of other lesser discussed (but no less influential) figures and groups in the Maghrib. These two examples illustrate how the social and cultural histories of radicalism offer new light by illustrating how subaltern groups have offered alternative imaginations of the nation. They also offer a methodological contribution by subverting the traditional approaches of history from the top (that usually focus on the Moroccan monarchy or the centrality of Habib Bourguiba), by identifying alternative chronologies and turning point. These include episodes of mass arrests and political trials (1968 Tunis trials, 1973 Kenitra trials). The article will then review the potential for similar radical histories in Algeria, arguing that the state’s socialist agenda forces us to think differently about the Algerian modernist intelligentsia. These groups continue to be understudied (in large part due to the dominance of the nationalist paradigm in the historiography), but we see encouragement in recent efforts to excavate the lives and trajectories of intellectuals such as Malek Bennabi, Mostafa Lacheraf and others. This paper will review ongoing efforts in English, French and Arabic to tell the histories of students, leftists and cultural dissidents in the region through this comparative angle. This paper will conclude with an assessment of these histories on the wider historiography of the post-independence period and the prospects for anchored and grounded histories of their radical traditions to take shape.