A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991: Updated and revised edition

by Bahru Zewde

Overview

Updated and revised edition.

Bahru Zewde has updated the first edition, adding a new chapter and taking the history through to 1991.

'The new chapter enhances the value of the book as the best historical introduction to modern Ethiopia. The account of the Revolution, contained in 41 pages, is nuanced and worthy of attention in its own right... In short, the updating of an already indispensable book.' - Donald Crummey in JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES

NorthAmerica: Ohio U Press; Ethiopia: Addis Ababa U Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782047865
Publisher:	James Currey
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Series:	Eastern African Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

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.

Editorial Reviews

The second edition of Bahru Zewde's (history, Addis Ababa U., Ethiopia) history adds a short final chapter on events following the Revolution of 1974 up to 1991. The history provides a compact account of the people and events of modern Ethiopia, with the predominant concern being political history, but also touching on social and economic concerns. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

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. - Richard Pankhurst in 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. - Christopher Clapham in AFRICAN AFFAIRS
... timely ... wealth of illustrative material ... Required reading for practitioners, graduate students and advanced undergraduates. - CHOICE

From the Publisher