Customer Reviews

Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Henze's Layers of Time is a narrative history of Ethiopia from earliest times through
the first few years following the defeat of the Derg regime. It is well-written, with
a solid bibliography that provides a useful starting-point for further research.

That being said, it is important to note that Henze writes this history as a diplomat.
On one hand, this provides him a storehouse of personal experience which he draws on
in discussing the latest chapters of Ethiopian history, from the last years
of Emperor Haile Selassie's reign forward. On the other hand, however, it soon becomes
clear that Henze has a goal to his judgements on the actors in recent Ethiopian history.
For example, about the only individuals who draw his disapproval are the former dictator
of Ethiopia, Mengistu Haile Mariam, and his former colleagues in the Derg. He fails to
criticize the actions of either the late Emperor Haile Selassie or the Ethiopian Peoples'
Revolutionary Democratic Front (the current ruling party in Ethiopia); compare the
account in Bahru Zewde's A Modern History of Ethiopia (1855-1994), second edition.
Bahru is a trained Ethiopian historian, and his discussion of not only Haile Selassie
and the Derg, but of the three important prior Emperors (Tewodros II, Yohannes IV and
Menelik II) is notably less laudatory. As long as readers remember to distinguish
between the facts and opinions set forth in this book, and that there are reasons to
omit details other than lack of space, they will be able to enjoy the strengths of
Henze's book.

Paul Henze was a Political Counsellor at the US Embassy from 1968 to 1972 and has been a Resident at the RAND Corporation since 1982. He has spent most of his adult life involved, one way or another, with Ethiopia. He has written a very comprehensive history of that country going back into the mist of time and bringing it forward to the twenty-first century. For most of the book he does a good job of keeping his opinions to himself but this becomes very difficult when he writes about the trouble of Ethiopia in the twentieth century and especially the last twenty-five years. To his credit, most of Henze's opinions are easy to pick-out and are mostly confined to footnotes.

Little of pre-20th century Ethiopia is known to most of us, even though it was the only territory (beside Liberia) to be 'colonized' at the end of the nineteenth century. It was able to remain independent (minus the Eritrean coastal plain) because Britain, France and Italy couldn't agree on who should take it over, and therefore like Afghanistan it was never swallowed up in the 'Scramble for Africa'. Though it was 'conquered' by Mussolini's Fascist Empire, it was never pacified and caused more trouble than it worth during the five years that it was 'officially' colonized. The Italians never held more than ten percent of the country during any time.

For anyone who wants to understand the basis for many of the problems of the 'Horn of Africa', this book is essential.

Zeb Kantrowitz