De Benoist was still in high school at Lycée Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand during the turmoils of the Algerian war (1954-1962), a period that shaped his political views. In 1957, he met the daughter of the antisemite journalist and conspiracy theorist Henry Coston. From the age of 15, de Benoist became interested in the nationalist right; he started a career as a journalist in 1960 by writing literary pieces and pamphlets for Coston's magazine "Lectures Françaises", generally in defence of the French colonial empire and the pro-colonial paramilitary organization Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS). However, de Benoist stayed away from Coston’s conspiracy theories on the Freemasonry and the Jews.