Customer Reviews

A History of Ethiopia Updated Edition

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That sums it up: this is an excellent place to start your study of Ethiopian history.

Marcus appears to specialize in Ethiopian history (he has written biographies of Emperors Haille Selassie and Menelik, both available from Amazon.com). But before reading those you might want to read his History of Ethiopia.

Marcus traces the history of this fascinating but mysterious land back to earliest times, and takes it right up to the fall of Mengistu in 1991. Perhaps someday a revision should be done to add events that took place after that, but right now it is too soon; history is still being made in Ethiopia. Most of the book deals with the period after about 1850, but as I said, if you're looking for a good general history filled with facts and details, this is it.

Marcus does not attempted to create a greatly in depth text here, and the greater portion of tyhe book relates to events after 1850. However, the book serves as an excellent primer. Anyone with even a passing interest in history should enjoy this review of one of the oldest and richest cultural histories in the world.

I found the book well-written and well-organized according to significant changes in Ethiopia's development. Economics, as well as politics, ethnology and technology are used to explain events and their significance. One thing that did annoy me is the fact that historic maps are all located together in the back, rather than in the sections in which they are relevent. The use of some of the Ethiopian titles of nobility is also confusing, when European equivalents would have done just as well.

Not a casual read by any means, but a serious student of African history could do much worse than Marcus' book.

A must for any course work on Ethiopia, and eastern Africa. Combines the approach of narrative history - from the dawn of civilization to recent conflict - with an explanation of the dynamics behind the inherent conflict between unity and autonomy in Ethiopia.

I found this book to be helpful as a general resource of information about Ethiopia's history. However, the reading often becomes confusing, most likely because of the lack of a "big picture" view. The text centers too much on individual events, especially in the first half. Also, I often became unclear of who the author was speaking of when he mentioned "the emperor" or "the king". This feeling was probably caused by the overly rapid introduction of new people.

If you are reading this review you are looking for books on Ethiopia or African History. This book is well worth the time and money, especially if your goals are as specific as Ethiopia. I bought this in the stages of planning a trip to Addis Abeba and enjoyed the academic approach - so it should be understood that it is more of an academic approach to Ethiopian History. It may not fit the needs of all. May be dense for some.

If for a university course or research consider yourself lucky, add this to your cart now. It is this kind of book.

If you wanted a softer, yet still revealing read, In Search of King Solomon's Mines, is a great addition here to your hunt on Ethiopian literature.

Read by me and some of my grandchildren. We have a new member of our family from Ethiopia.The author is Harold G. Marcus. I'm keeping it in my library.

This was the first History book I have read for leisure and I was supprised at how interested I was. A very well written and researched work. The only complaint I have is that the vocabulary was to much for me in places. Im used to looking things up in the dictionary, but not this much. Overall a very good read, will leave you wanting more.

Ethiopia history is more than what is written in this book, but I recommend this book for any one interested to know about Ethiopia

I personally appreciate all writers' accounts about the African history, especially those about the older civilizations like that of Abyssinia, Aoudal (Adal), Ifat (Yifat), Banadir, Oroma etc. Most of the histories from this region are either written by early travelers, who were apparently subject to their respective contact's account(s). Likewise some writers are subject to either personal inclination to one group or influenced by local authorities to make their fictitious political claims printed in the history in order to subdue others. We therefore should be very careful about the writer's tone vis-à-vis historical realities and events. The author falls to the second category trap (personal or Authority influence). For instance, he gives more credit to Amhara actions while undermining all other nationals in Ethiopia. He even reached a stage where he distorted the really of geographical history maps. Look the maps at the end of book. It is typical dreams of all Abyssinian emperors' ambitions. History is history no body can rewrite but can be corrected when grave distortions like those presented in this book are circulated. The writer is a good writer in literature wise but his story is biased!