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Il Negus: Vita e morte dell'ultimo re dei re
Italian
394 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 5, 2014
Ok, I didn't read this in Italian. I don't speak the language. However, I'm lazy today and couldn't bring myself to create the English edition.
Del Boca's biography of Hayla Selassie was really interesting. He makes an effort to be fair, does a good job of consulting sources and tells his story well.
The downside for me is something that seems to be a general rule when reading Ethiopian history: those writers who have personally met Hayla Selassie are prone to be more sympathetic towards him than those who only know him through writing. Del Boca is by no means the worst in this regard, in fact he tries hard to be fair. I do feel, however, that he loses out on a couple of points.
The story of the emperor is an intersting one. He managed to manouver himself onto the throne at quite a young age, and he kept himself there for fourty years. Impressive longevity! He also seperates himself from the former emperors (Tewdoros II, Yohannes IV and Menelik II) by not having fought - militarily - for his right to become emperor. Others fought for him.
He was a modernizer in his youth, and del Boca tells that story well. He was also a centralizer of power, and this is one of the tricks del Boca misses (in my opinion). Sure, he needed the centralization in order to modernize, but he also did it to collect all power in his own hands. Del Boca does acknowledge this tendency, but he puts it later on in life, and downplays it too much. For me, it seems clear that even though Hayla Selassie had reformist instincts, and was a reformer at the outset, this tendency collided head-on with his insitency that he and he alone should be supreme ruler. So whenever there was a conflict between modernizing and keeping power, the latter won out. Thus, as pointed out by Randi Rønning Balsvik in her "Haile Selassie's students" (review somewhere else in my books, I'm to lazy right now to provide the link), he repeatedly had to live with student demonstrations, and regularly clashed with the students. He felt their task was to help the motherland modernize, but that they should be grateful to him for the education and thus not question his right to rule. Students, taught to question and able to look around the world, could not do that.
What del Boca unquestionably gets right, however, is that what followed was infinetely worse. That Hayla Selassie's attitude helped getting them to power may be underplayed.
The strongest part is what del Boca is very interested in - Italy's role in Ethiopia. His portrayal of the war in 1936 is very well told, and detailed like little else in this book.
All in all - a book well worth reading!
Del Boca's biography of Hayla Selassie was really interesting. He makes an effort to be fair, does a good job of consulting sources and tells his story well.
The downside for me is something that seems to be a general rule when reading Ethiopian history: those writers who have personally met Hayla Selassie are prone to be more sympathetic towards him than those who only know him through writing. Del Boca is by no means the worst in this regard, in fact he tries hard to be fair. I do feel, however, that he loses out on a couple of points.
The story of the emperor is an intersting one. He managed to manouver himself onto the throne at quite a young age, and he kept himself there for fourty years. Impressive longevity! He also seperates himself from the former emperors (Tewdoros II, Yohannes IV and Menelik II) by not having fought - militarily - for his right to become emperor. Others fought for him.
He was a modernizer in his youth, and del Boca tells that story well. He was also a centralizer of power, and this is one of the tricks del Boca misses (in my opinion). Sure, he needed the centralization in order to modernize, but he also did it to collect all power in his own hands. Del Boca does acknowledge this tendency, but he puts it later on in life, and downplays it too much. For me, it seems clear that even though Hayla Selassie had reformist instincts, and was a reformer at the outset, this tendency collided head-on with his insitency that he and he alone should be supreme ruler. So whenever there was a conflict between modernizing and keeping power, the latter won out. Thus, as pointed out by Randi Rønning Balsvik in her "Haile Selassie's students" (review somewhere else in my books, I'm to lazy right now to provide the link), he repeatedly had to live with student demonstrations, and regularly clashed with the students. He felt their task was to help the motherland modernize, but that they should be grateful to him for the education and thus not question his right to rule. Students, taught to question and able to look around the world, could not do that.
What del Boca unquestionably gets right, however, is that what followed was infinetely worse. That Hayla Selassie's attitude helped getting them to power may be underplayed.
The strongest part is what del Boca is very interested in - Italy's role in Ethiopia. His portrayal of the war in 1936 is very well told, and detailed like little else in this book.
All in all - a book well worth reading!
January 26, 2021
An easily digestible account of the life of the last emperor of Ethiopia, interestingly from the perspective of an Italian author who interacted with him. So good seeing the events in Ethiopia over this period contextualised in the events of the world.
January 24, 2021
Objective book about the history of HIM & Ethiopia during the Emperor's time. Well written.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews