Book Review

Another New History of Ethiopia Published

By Dr. Richard Pankhurst

Published by Blackwell Publishers, of Oxford, England, it forms one of their "Peoples of Africa" series. The volume, entitled "The Ethiopians", covers the entire period of Ethiopian history from Lucy to the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam. There are thus chapters on such subjects as "Punt, Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the Aksumite Kingdom, and the Coming of Christianity"; "The Rise and Fall of Gondar"; and ‘Beginnings of Modernisation: Menilek, Iyasu, Zawditu and Liberation".

The work also contains a wide range of illustrations. These include a photograph of the obelisks of Aksum, at the time of the celebration of St Mary of Tseyon; an engraving of Tewodros’s capital of Maqdala in flames as a result of the Napier expedition of 1867-8; and a shot of Emperor Haile Sellassie addressing the League of Nations in 1936.

The book, in accordance with the Blackwell’s policy for the series, concentrates mainly on central Ethiopia, and thus compliments the author’s earlier book "The Ethiopian Borderlands", published by Red Sea Press last year.

"The Ethiopians" is available from Blackwells Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, England; or Blackwells Publishers Inc., 359 Main Street, Malden, Massachusetts 02148, USA.