Preface to 2nd edition - The background - Unification & independence 1855-1896 - From Adwa to Maychaw 1896-1935 - The Italian occupation 1936-1941 - From liberation to revolution 1941-1974 - Revolution & its Sequel - Conclusion
Bahru Zewde is Emeritus Professor of History at Addis Ababa University and founding Fellow and Vice President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He has authored many books and articles, notably A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974, Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century and The Quest for Socialist Utopia, finalist for the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize, 2015.
Reviews of the first edition (1855-1974): 'Bahru Zewde, one of
present-day Ethiopia's leading historians, must be thanked for
producing the first serious history of his country from the
coronation of the reforming emperor Tewodros in 1855 to the
Ethiopian Revolution of 1974. The work encompasses the lives of
Ethiopia's four last, and most important, monarchs: Tewodros,
Yohannes, Menilek and Hayla Sellase, whose reigns, as the author
presents them, form an historical continuum. The text is valuable
in that it provides an historical overview of virtually the entire
area of present-day Ethiopia, with sections on the south of the
country, largely ignored by previous historians, as well as on the
better-documented Semitic north. ... The book, though less than 250
pages in length, is packed with information not readily available
elsewhere, and contains valuable new historical insights. There are
moreover interesting discussions of how events in one part of the
region influenced the situation in others...there are also
interesting sections on such topics as Hayla Sellase's ideas of
government. ...The author does not ignore the more positive
features of the occupation. ... Bahru's work is the first history
of modern Ethiopia to be written by an Ethiopian, and thus provides
a new perspective. Though later imprisoned for several years by
Ethiopia's post-imperial regime he does not see the Hayla Sellase
era, through which he lived as a student, with rosy spectacles.
*JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY*
...gaping void now filled with distinction by Bahru Zewde...He
achieves too, the difficult tasks of balancing the political
history of warlords and emperors with social and economic
developments, and relating internal developments to the progressive
increase in external pressures. His judgements are succinct and
illuminating. ...In short, it is a model of its kind.
*AFRICAN AFFAIRS*
... timely ... wealth of illustrative material ... Required reading
for practitioners, graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
-
*CHOICE*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
