Eritrea Books

Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea

Robert D. Kaplan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The worst book on the Horn of Africa I have ever read 1 out of 5 stars.
20 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Kaplan's book "Balkan Ghosts" was described by slavist H. Cooper (Slavic Review 52, 1993) as "a dreadful mix of unfounded generalizations, misinformation, outdated sources, personal prejudices and bad writing". The same can be applied to "Surrender or starve". Any specialist could point dozens of minor errors in this book, but lack of scholarship is not the worst. Kaplan is exasperatingly tendentious and partial and his extraordinary simplification and misunderstanding of the conflict in the Horn is outrageous. He overemphasizes the ethnic component, sometimes dangerously approaching racism in his contempt for the Amharas (they are all intrinsically bad). To be sure, the Derg (the communist regime) was evil, but linking a particular culture (the Amharas) with a transient political regime that was imposed against the people's will is absolutely wrong. Besides, anyone minimally informed knows how many Amharas suffered by the resettlement policies of the Derg.
Worst of all, Kaplan embraces the politics he presumedly criticizes: "Surrender or starve" is not the slogan of the former Ethiopian communist regime, it is Kaplan's own motto. According to the author, we should have left 10 million Ethiopians starve in 1984-85, so as to foster a local rebellion against communist rule! To put it bluntly, this book is scholarly defective and morally despicable.

Forget Kaplan. If you really want to be informed about the complex reality of Ethiopia and neighboring countries, take a look at any of the books written by historians Bahru Zewde and Harold G. Marcus or by anthropologist Donald Donham. And if you want to be informed and at the same time enjoy a superb literary experience go for Ryszard Kapuscinski's "The Emperor"!

Editorial Review:

Robert D. Kaplan is one of our leading international journalists, someone who can explain the most complicated and volatile regions and show why they’re relevant to our world. In Surrender or Starve, Kaplan illuminates the fault lines in the Horn of Africa, which is emerging as a crucial region for America’s ongoing war on terrorism.

Reporting from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea, Kaplan examines the factors behind the famine that ravaged the region in the 1980s, exploring the ethnic, religious, and class conflicts that are crucial for understanding the region today. He offers a new foreword and afterword that show how the nations have developed since the famine, and why this region will only grow more important to the United States. Wielding his trademark ability to blend on-the-ground reporting and cogent analysis, Robert D. Kaplan introduces us to a fascinating part of the world, one that it would behoove all of us to know more about.

Anatomy of An African Tragedy: Political, Economic and Foreign Policy crisis in Post-Indepence Eritrea

Kidane Mengisteab; Okbazghi Yohannes

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Editorial Review:

This timely and unique book is an analytical study of post-liberation Eritrea. The work offers an extraordinary account of the events and developments that have taken place in the country’s politics, economy and foreign relations and of the things that have gone wrong since independence. By focusing on the economy, constitutional development or lack thereof, and foreign relations, the book illuminates objectively the internal and external difficulties and constraints the country faced in building a democratic society, viable economy, and sustainable foreign policy after liberation. Mengisteab and Yohannes insightfully demonstrate the structural and historical conditions and leadership patterns that account for the striking similarities between post-colonial Eritrea and post-colonial African states. The book makes an enormous contribution not only to the study of contemporary Eritrea but also to the comparative study of African politics and government. Since there is no work to date that treats the economy, politics and diplomacy of Eritrea from a comparative perspective, this timely book will go a long way in closing the gap in our understanding of post-liberation Eritrea, and the post-colonial African state as well.

I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation

Michela Wrong

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One small East African country embodies the battered history of the continent: patronised by colonialists, riven by civil war, confused by Cold War manoeuvring, proud, colorful, with Africa's best espresso and worst rail service. Michela Wrong brilliantly reveals the contradictions and comedy, past and present, of Eritrea. Just as the beat of a butterfly's wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world, so the affairs of tiny Eritrea reverberate onto the agenda of superpower strategists. This new book on Africa is from the author of the critically acclaimed In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz. Eritrea is a little-known country scarred by decades of conflict and occupation. It has weathered the world's longest-running guerrilla war, and the dogged determination that secured victory against Ethiopia, its giant neighbour, is woven into the national psyche. Fascist Italy wanted Eritrea as the springboard for a new, racially-pure Roman empire, Britain sold off its industry for scrap, the US needed headquarters for its state-of-the-art spy station and the Soviet Union used it as a pawn in a proxy war. Michela Wrong reveals the breathtaking abuses this tiny nation has suffered and, with the sharp eye for detail that was the hallmark of her account of Mobutu's Congo, she tells the story of colonialism itself. Along the way, we meet a formidable Emperor, a guerrilla fighter who taught himself French cuisine in the bush, and a chemist who arranged the heist of his own laboratory. An arresting blend of travelogue and history, I Didn't Do It For You pierces the dark heart of our colonial history.

Conversations with Eritrean Political Prisoners

Dan Connell

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Editorial Review:

In 2001, months after a devastating war with Ethiopia, a wide-ranging debate erupted within Eritrea over the conduct of leadership and the content of government policy, particularly around the 1998-2000 Border War with Ethiopia, which many thought could have been averted. Much of the criticism was directed at the president, Isaias Afwerki, who refused to implement a newly ratified Constitution or to permit the formation of political parties or to conduct national elections. This national conversation came to an abrupt halt in September when the government arrested its most prominent critics, shut down the private press, and smothered all public political discussion.

This book revisits that debate through interviews with five critics—top government officials and former liberation movement leaders—shortly before they disappeared into the Eritrean gulag. Since then, none has been seen, heard from or accounted for. Nor has any been charged with a crime. As these conversations reveal, the speakers knew what was in store for them—arrest and indefinite detention. This is why they spoke with veteran journalist and long-time friend of Eritrea Dan Connell. This book not only opens a critical window onto that seminal moment; it signals the persistence of the dream of a democratic future for a remarkable nation whose promise has yet to be fulfilled.

Against All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution With a New Afterword on the Postwar Transiton

Dan Connell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Comrade's Diary 3 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

There's not much material out there on Africa's longest running civil war, which is depressing for newcomers to the history of this conflict. Of what does exist, Connell's narrative is a valuable look into life with the Eritrean rebels seeking to split from a brutish Ethiopian state. In this book we find him getting strafed by Ethiopian jets, suffering through long desert hikes behind the lines, and reporting on the refugee situation. It is a fascinating look at the politics of rebel Eritrea and the collateral damage of warfare in the Horn of Africa.

As he states at the beginning, Connell is sympathetic to the EPLF (Eritrean Popular Liberation Front). So other than high-level news reports, you don't get much consideration of what's going on outside rebel(EPLF)-occupied Eritrea. The account is quite one-sided, even against the other rebel groups operating in Eritrea. The EPLF was a Marxist-oriented revolutionary movement from the beginning. Much of the book is devoted to educating the reader on the EPLF's great progress in pulling off land reforms, sharing Maoist "political education" with the rural population, and teaching the worker exploitation inherent in capitalism. All of which can be skimmed and discarded, but it takes away from the main strength of the book: that he was one of only a few reporters on the ground to witness much of Africa's most bizarre conflict. I wanted to learn more about the offensives, why the Soviets got involved, and what was going on from a big picture level. Reading endless detail about EPLF comrades setting up farm cooperatives in rural villages was not terribly exciting.

The definitive book on the Ethiopian/Eritrean war has not yet been written. But Connell's "Against All Odds" will give you insight into the struggles of the main leftist guerrilla group and their experience between 1977-1991.

PS- For war buffs, this book is a little light on its treatment of the battles and the maps included reveal few details.

Ras Alula and the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography : Ethiopia & Eritrea 1875-1897

Haggai Erlich

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This is unique, interesting and well documented book 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I read with great interest Haggai's latest book: "Ras Alula and the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography: Ethiopia & Eritrea 1875-1897"

As most people agree this is unique, interesting and well documented book. Only I wish, for historical reason, the title was different. For instance Abyssinia rather than "Eritrea & Ethiopia" because these names were given by colonial powers that divided and ruled the country with disastrous consequence that we all know.

He should be applauded for his effort and great interest in Abyssinian unique history.

Deborah Jessie
Paris, France

Editorial Review:

Ras Alula was one of the big men or Telek Saw who played a prominent role in the making of modern Ethiopia. He was famous enough to be lamented by a British historian as, "the greatest leader that abyssinia has produced since the death of the emperor Theodore in 1868." As remembered by the Ethiopians and reflected in their literature, "The famous and brave Ras Alula."

Brothers At War: Making Sense Of The Eritrean-Ethiopian War (Eastern African Studies)

Tekeste Negash

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Heavy Reading 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

At 190 pages this book is short but incredibly dense. It is not light reading, but it is informative. The authors take the time to show the voluminous statements that various parties issued and then analyze them. The long and twisted histories behind Eritrea and Ethiopia are given here, providing a much-needed build-up to a misunderstood, little-known but ruinous war. Here is a hint and a fact: the war was NOT about the border between these two countries nor the nearly useless Badme Plain that straddles a part of that border.
The authors don't take sides in presenting the two belligerents' positions, and indeed it would be hard to. The two govts, the govts of two under-developed and starving states drained from thirty years of continuous war, proved themselves to be more interested in beating each others' brains out than in ending the conflict. It is tragically ironic to see how the two countries switch their positions entirely as the military situation on the ground changed, and it is revolting how international organizations like the OAU and UN (the EU never even attempted to feign interest)wrung their hands but did little else while two p--s-poor countries slaughtered each other with frontal assaults on useless desert scrublands.
This is not a general or military history, more of a diplomatic one. It mainly covers the negotiations and accusations that both sides threw into the mix to either try stopping the war or to re-start it.
One big issue: the maps are pretty awful. Maps should feature every city, village or geographical feature that is mentioned in the text. Stating that the Ethiopians seized Barentu, Eritrea without displaying it on the two or three pitiful maps does little service to the reader.
This isn't light reading, but it is good for the seriously interested.

Editorial Review:

This text presents contextual aspects in order to explain the growing discord between the two former friendly governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia. It looks at historical relations since the late 19th century, border issues from local perspectives and relations between the former liberation fronts.

Eritrea: Dynamics of a National Question

Testfatsion Medhanie

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Unionists and Separatists: The Vagaries of Ethio-Eritrean Relation

Shumet Sishagne

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Editorial Review:

Based on a broad range of local and foreign archival sources, Shumet Sishagneand Separatists, presents a comprehensive account of the history of Ethio-Eritrean relations over the last half of the twentieth century. Starting with the end of Italian colonialism in Eritrea in 1941 and the struggle that ensued thereafter to determine the future of Eritrea, the book traces the evolution of domestic and external forces that decisively influenced the Eritrean political landscape. It examines closely the circumstances behind the creation of the Ethio-Eritrean federation and the challenges that brought it down. It provides a vivid description of the birth and growth of the Eritrean insurgency, the course of the prolonged and bitter civil war between rival Eritrean guerrilla factions, the failure of the Ethiopian governmentf the problem in Eritrea, and the process through which the Eritrean People Front (EPLF) succeeded in imposing its hegemony over the Eritrean political arena. Unionists and Separatists is the definitive history of the tragic and complicated relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Challenges of a Society in Transition: Legal Development in Eritrea

Yohannes Gebremedhin

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