BOOK REVIEW
A History of Ethiopia, by Harold Marcus, University of California Press, Berkeley, California, Los Angeles and London, 1995 (261pp).
Reviewed by Fikre Tolossa
[December 1996, Ethiopian Review]
When I came across Harold Marcus’s new book, I said to myself, “how would his book be different than other Ethiopian history books which I have read so far?” Indeed Marcus did not tell me many new things. But his interpretation of Ethiopian history is original. I also find the book to be concise and up-to-date on ancient and modern history of Ethiopia. On top of that, the book carries a message of hope for Ethiopians who fear about the disintegration of Ethiopia as a result of the current government’s ethnic politics.
The book goes back as far as 4 million years when Dinkenesh (Luci) and her ancestors roamed about the gorges and plains of Ethiopia. He covers about 4 million years of history in 16 pages and brings us upto the 13th Century A.D. In this chapter, he outlines human evolution, narrates about the emergence of languages, the cultivation of food such as teff and ensete and the formation of the Da’amat Empire with its capital at Yeha, the appearance of Ethiopian civilization at Aksum, the introduction of Christianity to Ethiopia, the development of commerce and international relationship, the conquest of South Arabia by Ethiopia, the fall of Aksum together with the Solomonic Dynasty, and the rise of the Zagwe Dynasty.
Chapter two deals with the rise of the Solomonic Dynasty again. It begins in the second half of the Thirteenth Century and ends in the Sixteenth Century. This part of Ethiopian history is considered by the author as a Golden Age, because emperors of the Solomonic Dynasty such as Yekuno Amlak, Amde-Tsion, Dawit, Zera Yacob, Be’ede Mariam, Naod and Lebene Dengel built Ethiopia as a civilized nation with a rich culture such as art and literature.
The remaining 12 chapters reflect the Gondere Period of Ethiopian history, the rise of Ahmed Gragn, the Oromo conquest of Central and Eastern Ethiopia, the relationship of the Oromo and the Amhara, the disintegration of Ethiopia into feudal kingdoms and dukedoms (Zemene Mesafint), the rise of Emperor Tewodros and his attempt to reunify Ethiopia, the progress and the further reunification of Ethiopia under King Sahle Selassie of Shoa, Emperors Menelik II and Haile Selassie, the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Derg era, the struggle of the EPRP, MEISON and all the progressive forces of Ethiopia, the fall of the Derg and the appearance of the EPRDF on the political arena.
The essence of Marcus’s book is that even though Ethiopia appears to disintegrate as a state at present, it will emerge again triumphantly as a united and strong nation. He proves this thesis by citing at least three instances of Ethiopian history when that old nation seemed dead and buried as a state and then rose from the ashes. According to Marcus, Ethiopia’s own history teaches us that she will overcome all her ethnic problems and rise again as a strong and united nation. The worth of Marcus’s book, however, is not measured only by the good news it heralds regarding Ethiopian unity. It is a concise and quick reference to the long and complex history of Ethiopian. The book should be on the desks of all those interested in the fate of Ethiopia.
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Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D., is Assistance Dean of Faculty at Columbia Pacific University, San Rafael, CA and Associate Editor of ER.