Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea

by Robert D. Kaplan

Robert D. Kaplan is one of our leading international journalists, someone who can explain the most complicated and volatile regions and show why they’re relevant to our world. In Surrender or Starve , Kaplan illuminates the fault lines in the Horn of Africa, which is emerging as a crucial region for America’s ongoing war on terrorism.

Reporting from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea, Kaplan examines the factors behind the famine that ravaged the region in the 1980s, exploring the ethnic, religious, and class conflicts that are crucial for understanding the region today. He offers a new foreword and afterword that show how the nations have developed since the famine, and why this region will only grow more important to the United States. Wielding his trademark ability to blend on-the-ground reporting and cogent analysis, Robert D. Kaplan introduces us to a fascinating part of the world, one that it would behoove all of us to know more about.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, History, Travel, Ethiopia, Somalia, Politics

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Robert David Kaplan is an American journalist, currently a National Correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. His writings have also been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, The National Interest, Foreign Affairs and The Wall Street Journal, among other newspapers and publications, and his more controversial essays about the nature of U.S. power have spurred debate in academia, the media, and the highest levels of government. A frequent theme in his work is the reemergence of cultural and historical tensions temporarily suspended during the Cold War.

Reviews

[Shiva Subramanyam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is heavily biased book. Seems more like a cold war propaganda. Except some basic info on issues between ethiopia and eritrea, writes acts as a spokesperson for Regan administration. People who are interested in neutral reporting, please avoid this book.

[John Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A snapshot of Africa and the U.S. - Soviet Cold War as backdrop.
The Soviets are gone but Africa is still mired in a failure of IQ…

Some quotes
U.S. story, about U.S. involvement in Africa. But that was only the external side of the drama. The internal dimension—famine as a manipulated consequence of war and ethnic strife—was passed over. Newspapers and television left unwritten and unfilmed

Experts foresee a much greater famine in the 1990s. Aid is simply not effective in the face of regimes that do not have to ensure the well-being of their subjects in order to stay in power.

The famine was good business for the Dergue. A port fee of $ 12.60 was charged for each ton of donated grain. This replaced coffee as Ethiopia's biggest hard currency earner. The United States paid $ 5 million just to have its first 400,000 tons pass customs inspection. It appeared far from coincidental that the costliest-ever government offensive against the Eritrean guerrillas was launched in July 1985,

Ethiopia, in the manner of Syria and Iraq, was a modernizing and controlled, praetorian police state, with a single tribe or ethnic group on top, supported by the most brutal and sophisticated means of repression. For the officers in charge, preserving the integrity of the empire against rebels was a far more uplifting and important goal than fighting a famine

The famine aside, the Ethiopian government probably was responsible for fifty times more deaths of black Africans in the 1984–1985 period than were South African security forces. But the media…

Whatever its sins, Italian capitalism, even under Mussolini, proved to be a liberating social force in comparison to Amhara feudalism. Consequently, Eritrea surged ahead of its Amhara-dominated neighbors.

“The only thing worse than an African government that says it is going to hold elections and doesn't is one that says it is going to hold elections and actually does!”

The Soviets knew what every experienced Africa hand had long been aware of: that
in the struggle against totalitarianism, bread alone was never enough.

that although God may cause drought, famine in Africa is caused by the power relationships among Africans. All the relief assistance in the world cannot change the values by which Sudanese and Ethiopians live.

by the late 1930s the Italians turned their new colony into one of the most highly industrialized places in Africa, with a road and railway network that united a people previously divided by mountains and deserts.

maintained in excellent condition by Eritrean highway crews working seven days a week, is to experience the historical energy of the industrialized West transplanted successfully to an African people, rather than being dissipated following the departure of colonial powers

we have nine language groups and two religions. No one in Africa has succeeded in copying a Western political system,


Some harsh truths now (my words) colonialism was a net benefit regardless of some shocking excesses

IQ by race is unfortunately real and has great explanatory power. A couple hundred thousand years in the brutal sun did nothing for African intellect…hence no wheel no writing.

[Sean Mccarrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

My big issue with this book was the blatant bias Kaplan shows towards the Reagan administrations and colonialism. Despite the obvious flaws in both, Reagan's inability to operate in any diplomatic form on the international stage, and the ills of colonialism, such as murder, systematic destruction, segregation, etc. Kaplan chooses to look past these things. In Eritrea Kaplan makes quite the hooplah over how Italians civilized the Eritreans and how grateful they are for it. Perhaps, Kaplan should read "I Didn't Do it For You" by Michela Wrong, because that book makes the perfect retort. The Italians segregated the Eritreans from their own "civilization" and took the technology with them when they left. Clearly Kaplan is missing a chunk of the story here. Also, I'm a bit skeptical that everything seemed to work so closely in conjunction with Moscow. That's the first time I've heard that view. Other than that though, this book was pretty awesome. I liked the way it attacked the Western Aid programs and punched holes in the myth of Western charity. Furthermore, I found the writing itself to flow quite well. Overall, it was a pretty good book.

[thereadytraveller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea is not, as the title might suggest, a travel book, but rather a geopolitical discourse on a a crucial period in the Horn of Africa's history. At its heart this is predominantly a story of the modern history of Ethiopia between 1984 and 1987 during which the western media beamed in images of a drought-scarred landscape and heart-rending famine scenes that led to the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert which I can still recall some thirty years later.

Written in 1988 prior to Eritrea's recognition as an independent nation, Kaplan's first book details how the resultant famine was not as much a result of misfortune or acts of god but rather something created by the Marxist Ethiopian government which can be likened to what occurred in 1930's Ukraine as a result of policies implemented by Stalin. The western media, reluctant to criticise the Ethiopian government for fear of being thrown out of what were considered plum postings, comes in for a fair amount of criticism due to covering the more "scenic" biblical-like famine, rather than the true underlying story of Ethiopia amidst the ongoing resettlement and villagization, which unfortunately continues today.

Heavy of facts, figures, dates and acronyms, Surrender or Starve is at times relatively disjointed and occasionally repetitive, but that doesn't detract from the overarching quality of Kaplan's "travel reporting". The writing is very accessible and doesn't shy away from putting forward his own ideas on how events should've been handled (bearing in mind that when written the area was still in a state of upheaval). With frequent references back to other well-known geopolitical events (e.g. the Eritrean guerrilla resistance is compared to the struggle of the Viet Cong against the US and the deaths of the Ethiopian rural people to that of the slaughter of millions of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge), this is a good book for coming to grips with this part of history and the 2003 published version also benefits from a new foreward and postscript.

Overall, Kaplan succeeds in the difficult task of distilling a complex subject into a more easily understood version without dumbing down the content too much. And whilst there are inevitable references back to the US Administrations of the time, which potentially reflect some of his own biases, as a reader we come away much better informed on the history, religions and main ethnic groups of the Horn (and in particular Ethiopia and Eritrea). For this reason alone, it is worth reading Surrender or Starve so as to be either a better informed armchair traveler or actual visitor to this fascinating region.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been a fan of Kaplan's work for sometime, it was a pleasure to finally read his first book, and a decent entry into the literary world it is.
Concerning mainly Ethiopia, and what would later become the separate country of Eritrea, we are given essentially a journey through history, as Kaplan recounts the long history of divisions in what was then Ethiopia, reaching back to Italian colonial intervention, up to the present, with the Soviet sponsored Dergue government.
What is revealed is quite a horrifying portrait, with hunger being used as a political tool by the Communist regime in Addis Ababa, and how conflict, political or ethnic, has taken the Horn of Africa into a nightmarish reality of Biblical scale.
Interesting insight is also contained with regard to Sudan, and the then conflict over Darfur. As someone who at first became familiar with Darfur in headlines starting from about 2003 onward, it was interesting to learn that this conflict is far from recent news, and was just as bad in the 1980s, however Western Media attention was elsewhere.
Despite being written in the 1980s, this book is still very much relevant, as it contains insight into the divisions, and factors exacerbating division, in this tumultuous region of the world.

[Douglas La Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book twice. Once in 2012 when I was moving to Ethiopia, and just this week after working in the Horn of Africa for 7 years (in Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan). It is difficult to read because the long and meandering chapters, and it is extraordinarily outdated because it is mostly (almost solely) concerned with Cold War era politics. It does provide a good snapshot of early 1990s attitudes towards food aid and the geo-politics of international development.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books that throw cold water in my face and change my perspective on an issue. Robert D. Kaplan, one of our great international journalists, verbally flays the news media and the Carter Administration in his expose of the Horn of Africa tragedy in the 1970/80's. The media reported the famine like it was a natural disaster--similar to the Japanese tsunami. In fact, as Kaplan reports, it was a political famine and the media was derelict by not making an effort to explain this to the western world. The Marxist-Leninist, Soviet Union backed, Ethiopian government was willfully starving the non-Amharan Ethiopian / Eritrean tribal groups...while we sang "We Are the World" and donated hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of food that never made a bit of difference. The Carter Administration is accused of being the "weak horse" and capitulating to the Soviets in the late 70's by giving them influence over the Horn of Africa. One person is exonerated--Carter's National Security Advisor, the tough Pole, Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski, who knew what the Soviets/Russians were capable of and pleaded with Carter to punch back...but to no avail.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Kaplan comes across as biased in some sections of the text (his description of the Amharas in Ethiopia as basically an inherently misanthropist race comes to mind as one example), the book is an excellent introduction to the politics of the Horn of Africa (and how the related to the rest of the world) during the 1980s.

Kaplan casts blame for the famine on all of the appropriate sources - from the corrupt African government officials caught up in war, to the naivete and misguided, yet lofty intentions of the American government, to Soviet strong-arm tactics and finally the media itself.

The beginning could have used a little more description about the people and cultures being discussed - I had to turn to Wikipedia to gain some perspective. Once I jumped that hurdle, it was a well-written, well-researched account of the shocking disregard for human life, bureaucratic red tape and failed attempts at relief surrounding the famine.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an incredibly valuable snapshot of the on-the-ground realities and political intricacies of the Horn of Africa in the 1980's. However, if I hadn't read What is the What and wasn't moving to Ethiopia in August, I might not have been able to read it all cover to cover because it's so heavily laden in comments on the Soviets and Ronald Reagan that aren't affecting the region two decades later.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a useful history lesson, but the writing was relatively dry and I'm not sure the author has proven to be a credible journalist or writer. An interesting and informative critique of much of Kaplan's work can be found here: The Case Against Kaplan. Overall, I agree with the author of the linked article -- this isn't a bad book, but it isn't a great book either.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Politically, this is a timely book that we ought to read.

In a similar vein, at my age I probably should get a colonoscopy.

...but I'm not likely to do either this weekend.

[Ed Stoddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my annual non-fiction reread. I am a big fan of Kaplan's writing and this was a useful reminder of how famine can be used as a wrenching tool of repression and social control. I had also forgotten some of the salient points that Kaplan. One arresting point is that the Eritrean rebels fighting for independence from Ethiopia helped to feed starving peasants - a reversal of the roles normally assumed by guerrillas and peasants on the stage of history.
The Horn of Africa remains a fascinating and violent place and Kaplan has provided historical context for events unfolding there now ...

[Epimetheus Xaaji · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biased and outdated book.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought the book on Rwanda, it was from a book display with books about Africa, I also picked up Surrender Or Starve by Robert D. Kaplan, since I was a fan of his writing for Atlantic Monthly and his other books (The Coming Anarchy, The Ends of the Earth, and Balkan Ghosts). His journalism reads like a travelogue with interesting asides about the history and culture of the region supplemented by political analysis. I find his writing extremely informative. This book is no exception. He sets out to explain the reasons behind the famine that gripped sub Sahara Africa in the early-mid 80s. It is a reissue, but important if you consider what is being done to the black African southerners in Sudan and the fact that Sudan and Yemen are home to some of the most dangerous terrorist in the world.

I find two observations quite profound. One, the famines that received some much notoriety in the 80s from Live Aid and other charitable organizations weren't caused by droughts, but were mainly due to ethnic civil wars and politics. Kaplan meticulously describes the factors that resulted in widespread famine. He points out that more often than not the real reasons weren't printed due to lack of motivation and the inaccessibility of gathering facts from remote regions where this story was taking place.

The other revealing observation concerns the Africans themselves. It seems that 1000s of people dying of hunger caused little concern or outrage among the middle/class elite in the countries described. One aid worker described it to being like the Russian noble in pre-revolutionary Russia that walked the streets and only saw people like themselves. As usual Kaplan provides an interesting portrait of a little known region and give expert political analysis on the region. I think that Kaplan is one the best foreign correspondents around.

[Anne-Marie Hodge]

I picked this up expecting it to be a Theroux-esque travel book, but it is definitely not. It is, however, an eye-opening account of the political machinations that facilitated, and sometimes even created, the Ethiopian and Sudanese famines that the media largely attributed to drought in the late 70s and 80s. I love books that teach me "how much I didn't know I didn't know" about something, and this one definitely counts. Ethiopia is an incredibly fascinating place -- the only African country never to have been a colony, Soviet Russia's only African satellite state, a mixture of ancient and fascinating cultures . . . this book was originally written in 1989 and has a postscript that was added in 2002, so it is extremely eye-opening and will put you in search of more recent accounts to follow up on what Kaplan observed and predicted. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Africa, humanitarian issues, international politics, or the stickiness about foreign aid efforts.

[Murtaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1980s, Robert Kaplan traveled to Ethiopia to cover a horrifying internal armed conflict that was being inaccurately reported by foreign media as a famine. Images of starving Ethiopian peasants were starting to fill the TV screens of Westerners, to whom it was incorrectly being implied that the culprit was drought. In reality the starvation was being deliberately engineered by a ruthless Ethiopian military junta known as the Dergue, which, along with Soviet advisors, was implementing an African version of the Red Terror against its own citizens. Peasants were being denied food and forcibly collectivized onto villages and farms, almost always with brutal violence. Particularly targeted were minorities such as Tigrayans and Oromos who were historically disadvantaged by the Amhara-dominated central government. For well over a decade Ethiopia was plunged into a full blown civil war that included a separatist movement to create the independent state of Eritrea.

This book is an account of Kaplan's travels in Ethiopia and bordering nations at the time. It is a piece of reporting that is also a polemic against what he viewed as the naive and complicit role that Western media and governments played in the conflict. The former were accused of missing the story, while the latter, assisted by misguided reports from the former, were using money intended to save starving peasants as a tool to prop up one of the most totalitarian regimes in the Third World. As Kaplan described it, the Dergue was using starvation as a weapon of war against a peasantry that it was forcibly collectivizing, slaughtering, raping, and expelling from their lands. The regime then turned around and used Western aid as a means of maintaining the support of its own base. Its opponents meanwhile were simply given the choice to "surrender or starve." During the Cold War, when this book was written and the conflict took place, such a conflict, with complex ethnic and local historical drivers, could be plausibly depicted by journalists like Kaplan as part of the latest showdown between the democratic free world and the forces of global Communist totalitarianism.

If the Dergue are the villains of Kaplan's telling of the conflict, the Eritrean and Tigrayan rebel groups fighting against them are unequivocally the heroes. Kaplan is particularly enamored of the Eritrean militias, whom he describes as perhaps the only rebels on earth that materially support the population they represent rather than exploiting them. The nominally leftist Eritrean People's Liberation Front fought the Dergue in grueling warfare aimed at separating themselves from the Amhara-dominated central government. But they also provided food, healthcare, and jobs to the people under their control. Kaplan spends time with Eritrean leader Isiais Afwerki with whom he is clearly enamored, not just because of his battlefield accomplishments but because Afwerki repeatedly promises to be an ally of Israel. His almost uncritically positive depictions of the EPLF and Afwerki look awkward today given the totalitarian isolation to which independent Eritrea has now fallen. Incredibly, decades after this book was written, Afwerki is still president of Eritrea.

The Ethiopian civil war killed at least half a million people by direct violence, including WWII style trench and tank warfare, as well as wholesale massacres of towns and villages. Over a million more people were killed through forced starvation policies that generated widespread famine. The real numbers may well be several times higher than recorded, as many of the worst crimes happened in areas where no reporters ever really went. Its sobering to consider the incredible magnitude of terror that was inflicted on the Ethiopian people during this period. The scale and totality of the violence, the wholesale destruction of culture and society, rivalled the crimes of the most sophisticated totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Appropriately enough it happened with Soviet support as part of a grand plan to create an Eastern Bloc in the Horn of Africa. There is a lot that to take umbrage with in Kaplan's writing, including his partisanship, motivated reasoning, and frankly condescending attitude towards Africans and Arabs. Kaplan clearly has a bone to pick with his colleagues and spends a lot of time discussing their shortcomings. He also writes forthrightly from the position that the West is noble and everyone else, at best, are its good students. It's not a tone or perspective that you hear as much today when the West has gone into relative decline, which, ironically, is part of what makes it feel a bit novel to read. The author's persona aside, the simple facts about the history of the war that he wrote about here were useful and its all done in his undeniably eloquent reporting style.

The Ethiopian Civil War and terror prosecuted by the Dergue was a horrible conflict that deserved to be remembered among the great tragedies of the last century, but was ignored simply for having taken place in Africa. Reading this history shed a lot of light for me on the contemporary war between Tigrayans and the Ethiopian government. The violence today is on a clear continuum with that period a few decades back in which the Marxist central government of modern Ethiopia attempted to forcibly subjugate and homogenize its minorities in a manner and on a scale of which Emperor Haille Selassie could only dream. The Dergue failed, but they left a legacy of harrowing violence that continues to shape Ethiopia today. It really is true that civil wars mess up societies in a way that is often far more lasting and pervasive than attacks from external enemies. One can only hope that Ethiopia finds a way to break this tragic cycle for good and realize its great potential.

[Russel Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I take nothing away from the quality of Kaplan’s writing, which is superb. It is a nuanced look at complicated conflicts, which he boils down to something digestible for Western audiences who remember the Save the Children commercials more than the conflict.

My criticism is that its reissue after 9/11 - its cover and revised title - makes it seem like travel writing on areas that had become strategically important in combating terrorism, and it isn’t that. There is little about Somalia, and most of the arcane disputes profiled had either been resolved or been subsumed into new and only semi-related conflicts in the interim.

As a history of the famines of the 1980s and the wars that caused and/or exacerbated them, excellent. As a primer on the region useful for 2023 or even 2002? Not terribly useful.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is very deceiving....Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea....OK so "Discussions of current affairs in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somlaia and Eritrea" probably would not grab too many eager readers but that in a nutshell was what this book was about. I for some reason was thinking it was a kind of travel book but I should have known what it would have been about since Robert Kaplan wrote it. Don't get me wrong I really found the book to quite interesting. I am not very familiar with the history of these four countries and I feel I am not about more informed having read Mr. Kaplan's book.

[Magnus Stanke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll not go into detail of how much I disagree with Kaplan on many issues (political and cultural) since, unlike him, I'm neither US American nor of the conservative persuation.

I agree with other reviewers here, there's an unforgivable amount of repetition and the 'Travels' of the title is misleading. However, the fact that a lot of the information here is dated can hardly be held against the book.
So, once I disregard the ideological discrapancies in outlook between the author and myself there is some interesting information to be found, but I had to dig for it.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kaplan's always a good read. This is one of his first books, dealing with the 1980's famine and the original Eritrean war. He seems to have been a bit more conservative politically than he later became, and there are a lot of annoying digs at "humanitarianism." Still, his writing is excellent, as always, and he always manages to incorporate more points of view than most people calling themselves journalists. I learned a lot from a pretty short book.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a bit dated, ok really dated, this is an interesting read about Ethiopia's famine(s) in the 80s and the civil war. Kaplan crosses the Ethiopian, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia borders to highlight why the famine was happening and the ill conceived politics behind it. He does a good job of highlighting why the US policy in Ethiopia in the 80s didn't work. There are points that he makes, like how the US was giving weapons to Afghans but not to Ethiopians or Eritreans, that now seem crazy.

[Theresa Leone Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written a while ago, in 1988, and although it has new comments at the beginning and end by the author, journalist Robert Kaplan, it is still a bit dated, with a lot more misery having been inflicted on these countries since. On the other hand, what it does tell about the crippling famine, regional conflicts and general strife in these countries is incredibly sad, very well written, and worth the time and emotional investment.

[Kenneth E Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting view of Africa in the 1980s

Kaplan has great books because he is on the ground, describing what he sees. This one would have been better if I would have read it years ago. Still, it is a good history of the region. You can tell it was one of the first books that he wrote. Sometimes you lose track of the people he is writing about. But overall, it is a good read, especially if you like his other books.

[Dirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have my issues with Kaplan and his odd arguments and conclusions (he cites Alan Keyes as a voice of Black American in one passage), nevertheless, his descriptive writing is at its best here and this is one of only three major books about the region and time and political/security situation it describes – it’s basically a must read.

[Lmmop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I usually enjoy Kaplan, he wore me out with this one. He digresses from his forte of providing, in one book, sanpshots of history, travel, and analysis from diverse places. Instead, this book covers the history and analysis of just one (okay, 2) countries across a long timeline. The result is tedious.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all what I was anticipating. Instead of a first hand travelogue, this was much more an analysis of the political and historical climate surrounding the famine of the mid 80's. Unforgiving to both the US and African nations governments, this reporter paints a grim picture of the causes of famine and the results of relief efforts.

[Nessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow- I knew nothing of East African politics and famine issues. Though not as well written and enjoyable to read, it taught me alot about America and Russian politcs in Ethiopia and Eritrea and other East African states.

[Roman Ginzburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author tells a very pro-Eritrea story concerning the last forty years in the horn of Africa. To confess, I read about 2/3rds of the book skipping around after the first half because I felt the book became a bit repetitive.

[David Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Words don't come easy on this one. There's a lot of Robert Kaplan in the book, and, while refreshing to know what the author thinks, I need time to digest, and wouldn't mind talking to others about it.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was brilliant. A really interesting insight into the Horn of Africa during the 80's and 90's when the worlds perspective on Ethiopia and surrounding countries was set by World Vision ads of starving children. What really happened? What still happens? Check this book out for sure!