5 comments about Legacy of Bitterness: Ethiopia and Fascist Italy, 1935-1941.

1. The author presented how the mighty European powers sacrificed Ethiopian independence in a clear and unambigous manner. All the relevant facts and supporting documents were apppropriate.

   But I am NOT sure why, Mr. Sbacchi failed to mention that The Pope's tacit support of the camapaign. In fact to set an example,he donated the Papal ring to help finace the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This act by the Pope infuriated a number of Eritreans, who then not only converted to The Ethiopian Orhtodox faith in protest, but also deserted Italy, and joined the Ethiopian patriots. The Pope's act left one of more Legacy of bitterness, since most thought that a Christian can not be cruel to another Christian. And they found out that European Christians are never meant to be equal with African Christians. Overall, it is a comendable work and I hope to see more like it.




2. I bought this book because I was writing a research paper on the Italo-Ethiopian War, and seeing as this humongous volume was written all about it, I was thrilled.. and I wasn't disappointed. It has lots of information about the war and was a great help in helping me narrow down my topic; it also covers background to the war, etc. However, I only found about half of the book at all relevant to what I was trying to find. Nevertheless, this fault does not affect the usefulness of the book, except that it just makes it a whole lot heavier. Not my choice for a light afternoon read, but very good for research.



3. In my opinion, the Italian invasion and conquest of Ethiopia is a war that has not received enough emphasis. While the Italians were victorious after a fashion and King Victor Emanuel III of Italy was now considered an Emperor, the consequences for Europe and the world were enormous. Before the war, Italy was a significant power in Europe and while not specifically anti-German, Mussolini was opposed to any territorial realignment in Europe that did not involve Italy gaining territory. At that time, even though they possessed similar ideologies, Italy and Germany were still at odds. It seems to be forgotten now that it was Mussolini's forceful military response that prevented the German Anschluss with Austria from taking place in 1934. Until the Italian adventure in Ethiopia, it was Italian military power that was checking the southern expansion of the German Reich. Mussolini openly described Hitler as a "little clown" and he entered into agreements with the smaller nations, where he pledged to defend them against German expansion. Germany and Italy were also natural territorial rivals, as Mussolini clearly understood that a German seizure of Austria would reopen the Tyrol issue. An alliance between Britain, France and Italy standing against German expansion would have kept it from happening. If those three had aligned against Germany, it would have been fighting on three fronts, a southern, western and on the seas.
   However, Britain and France tried to play both sides of the fence during the war between Italy and Ethiopia. In the guise of collective security, they tried to punish Italy, imposing rather weak sanctions. At the same time, they were reaching an accommodation with Mussolini, awarding him de facto recognition of the conquest, although they were not to the point where they were willing to make it de jure. The policy of trying to punish a nation while simultaneously attempting to form a stronger alliance with it projected weakness.
   As this was happening, Hitler did not join the sanctions, supplying Italy with essential materials, which led to an understanding between Hitler and Mussolini. Germany would acquiesce in the Italian conquest of Ethiopia, and then Italy would do the same when Germany tried to annex Austria. The cost of carrying out a colonial war so far away from the home country served to weaken Italy, making it far less formidable in the power structure of Europe. It was at this point that the British and French decided that there was no point in making any additional concessions in an attempt to draw Italy into an anti-German alliance.
   All of the above is covered in detail in this book, but there is also a great deal of attention paid to the actions of the Italians in Ethiopia. That war was the last one where poison gas was extensively used. Even though it had been banned as a weapon, the Italians made effective use of several different types, a fact well known to the European powers. In their focus on trying to keep Italy an ally, a great deal of effort was made to cover it up. There is little doubt that the fact that those being asphyxiated were Africans had something to do with this effort. Another point brought out, something that I have never read in any other book, was the Italian policy of execution as a means of controlling the country. In several instances, they lured Ethiopian leaders by promises of safety, only to have them killed.
   At the end of the war, Italy emerged weak, estranged from her natural ally of Great Britain and somewhat reliant on the rising power of Germany. Britain and France tried to sacrifice Ethiopia for security in Europe. It did not work, although in their defense, there was little public support for any forceful action of any kind. I enjoyed this book; it should be read and studied as a chronicle of one of the prelude events to the Second World War.



4. Extremely interesting and fascinating book. This book would be even more interesting if juxtaposed with the later struggles between Ethiopia and the emerging state of Eritrea. Italy's actions (and later Britain and the UN) in this region of Northeast Africa reverberates until today with the Ethiopian-Eritrean border 1998-2000 War. I'd like to make one point about the atrocities committed against the Ehiopians by the Italians. Although the Italians did terrible acts of murder, rape, and genocide against the Ehiopians, their actions and appetite for murder, rape, and genocide were surpassed by the Ethiopians, who in later years committed even more terrible atrocities against the Eritreans(in their struggle for independence). Of course, actions taken by Haile Selassie later on in his regime, and Menginstu Haile Mariam led to millions of Ethiopians starving to death. So, what is my point? Well, I guess that the actions of the Italians should not be made ominous at that time in history because they are "Italians" or "whites". What the Italians did is what they did, and the Ethiopians, later, did far more terrible things to the Eritreans and to themselves.



5. Be careful with this book: I bought it for use in a history essay, expecting it to be a single work. Instead, Alberto Sbacchi, the noted Italian scholar and critic of imperialism, who is listed as the author, compiled a series of essays ranging from the 1970s to the present about the history of Italy in Ethiopia. There is a special concentration on Italian generals' use of poison gas against the Ethiopians, which is a little-adressed subject. Essentially, it is useful as a general reference, but be aware of bias and don't depend on it as a serious piece of historography.

1 comments about The Eighth Wonder of the World.

1. I read a little more than half way through Epsteins novel and skimmed through the remains of the remains. Kind of like looking through the entrails to try to divine any redeeming qualities. The Comparison of The 8th Wonder.. by one reviewer to Pynchon must have been based on the inclusion of dirigibles or actual historic characters like Benito Mussolini and Goebbels. There was nothing approaching the inventiveness and constant surprises of Pynchon' s prose, or his layered density of historical and literary meaning. I found all the characters to be standard caricatures with some exception for Amos Prince the central architect who was a kind of Mash-up of Albert Speers and Ezra Pound and could have been ideally played by John Huston. There was some valid insight into the ease with which large portions of a society comply with authoritarian militarism, and the weird bombastic appeal of people like Mussolini. The trouble is that the dark side of fascism is not made real, except for the suffering of the cartoony Jews set in the equally cartoony mash-up of the tower of Babel story and a version of the Biblical Esther story with a catastrophic ending.There is also a subverted combination of Moses and his ark inthe bulrushes and a failed crossing of the Jordan. The superimposition of Biblical themes lacks passion and depth. In the face of the very real devastations of current Imperial plans and wars, Epstein offers a grandiose but insipid fantasy of personal inconvenience. And there isn't enough intellectual power to make this proposed post-modern insight worth the long pages of plot details.
   
   The whole thing falls apart; the figure of the monumental tower is overly contrived and obscures rather than illuminates the historic events in which it is inserted . What fun there is in the character of Amos Prince and his meetings with Mussolini dissipates quickly. The whole enterprise felt very contrived and not driven by real passion, daring , or investigation. I am rather amazed at the positive tone of the review blurbs, because I am not a harsh critic and I thought the book sucked.

5 comments about Haile Selassie's War.

1. This is probably one of the best war histories ever written. Mockler's superb book outlines the causes, actions and consequences of the Italo-Ethiopian conflict from Italy's first (foiled) attempt at conquest in 1896 at Adowa to Haile Selassie's final overthrow in the early 1970s by a military junta.
   Mockler was exceedingly fortunate to have interviewed some of the people who appear in his book. Many were old men and several were later reported murdered by the Marxist Dengue that set up shop after throwing Selassie out.
   Most of the story focuses on the 1936 war between the two countries when Fascist Italy conquered feudal Ethiopia, the last independent nation in Africa at the time. So often portrayed as barefoot and spear-carrying warriors, Mockler shows us that parts of the Ethiopian Army were fairly well-armed and trained. But it was still underdeveloped and relied heavily on massed attacks that guaranteed being massacred by the mechanized, well-equipped Italians. The book continues through the Italian occupation, the Ethiopian resistance, the declaration of war between Italy and Britain in World War Two, the Emperor's return and Ethiopia's eventual independence. It is rife with intrigue, plots and treachery, as Ethiopian nobles plotted with and against each other to see who would eventually wear the crown. It is an exquisitely crafted piece of work and it is a great great shame that it is no longer in print.



2. This is an excellent chronicle of the Italo-Ethiopian conflict and then of the battles in Africa during WWII between Italy and Britain. It is narrated very well and I rarely felt lost or confused. This is a great book and would be a welcome edition to any library.



3. Ras Tafari, last Emperor of Ethiopia, otherwise known as Haile Selassie, lived the last of his days during the 1970s as a weird diplomatic footnote, but in his prime, he was equal to his title "Lion of Judah." Upon ascending to the Ethiopian throne in the mid 1930s - an ancient and fascinating institution, due to the unique Christian heritage of Ethiopia - he was forced to defend his homeland against the Italian invader. Though his troops fought bravely, Selassie was forced temporarily to seek exile in Bath (England), where he languished for about four years. Then, in 1940, the British Army was able to deliver vengeance to the Italians, as they extinguished the entire Italian presence in East Africa, rolling up Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia and returning Selassie to Addis Abbaba. Mockler's account of Haile Selassie's two wars is meticulous and well-written, and includes interesting stories about a number of highly significant players such as Orde Wingate (the T.E. Lawrence of WW2), the Duke of Aosta (and Italian prince who got tangled up in the Abyssinian adventure) and Mussolini.



4. Haile Selassie's War is a historical account that should satisfy the professional and amateur historian alike. On the whole the author handles a set of material that is highly complex and potentially confusing (such as the intrigues of the Ethiopian nobles) and does a great job in keeping up with them without losing the reader along the way.
   
   Due to the vast subject matter, we get to know everyone and everything a little, but largely superficially. Even in regard to the Emperor himself, we follow his rise to power and intrigues with his often-rebellious nobles and rivals, but we get to know little of this man apart from his political actions. What were the influences of his boyhood and early manhood? What was the impact of his diminutive size in terms of his prestige among other, more warlike nobles. Perhaps these things can no longer be determined. But others might have been answerable, such as who was the Empress and what was her influence? What of his sons, his daughters? We get little back-story and meet most of them whilst he is already an exile in England.
   
   On the whole, though, I can have nothing but admiration for Mockler's treatment of the subject. I found the book immensely readable, despite the odd grammatical "gremlin". Although I am a historian by profession I often find large historical monographs of this ilk very hit and miss; I usually find myself skimming through pages and chapters to pick up the story at a more interesting place. With this one, however, I didn't skip a single paragraph and found it all completely fascinating. I also enjoyed the small doses of dry humour injected by Mockler in places, especially where he allows the personalities of some of the characters involved to shine through a little, like the Italian pilot "Gina's brother", "Lawrence of Ethiopia" Ord Wingate, and of course the indefatigable Wilf Thesiger.
   
   And finally, while there are no blushes spared from either Italian (for its harsh regime), British (for their distinct lack of enthusiasm for the Emperor's cause) or Ethiopian (for their serial treachery and indeed the Emperor's own brand of harsh justice) perspectives, insufficient attention, I believe, is focused on the war crimes of the fascists, in particular the use of mustard gas and large-scale execution of civilians (these are examined only cursorily).
   
   The maps, family trees, chronologies and biographical index were all very useful tools - but what about a few photographs? Certainly a picture or two can assist the reader with fixing images in their minds of the personalities and the landscapes being discussed in the text. It would have enhanced my reading of this book quite a bit. My only other irk with this book was the large number of quotations in French and Italian that the author had not bothered to translate for us. I can get by on my high-school French but it is perhaps a little unreasonable of the author to expect readers to be fluent in several languages, when a simple translation in the footnotes would suffice.
   
   Nonetheless I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of Ethiopia, East Africa, World War II, Fascist Italy or Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) himself.



5. This is probably the only generally available book on both of the wars involving Ethiopia during the 30s and 40s. Haile Selassie was the Emporer or Ethiopia from 1930 until the 60s, and this book recounts first the conquest of the country by Italy in 1936, then the colonialization of the country during its occupation, and finally the liberation of the nation in 1941 by the British. Besides the Emporer himself, the book involves many interesting characters, from Archibald Wavell, Winston Churchill, Orde Wingate, and William Slim, around to Rodolfo Graziani, the Duke of Aosta, and Benito Mussolini. The setting is Ethiopia itself, a vast, mostly trackless country, full of warring tribes, warlords vying for power, and foreigners trying to stay out of danger.
   
   Mockler's interest, for the most part, is recounting the basics of the conflict. He pays special attention to the effect of the changing face of Ethiopian politics on the various personalities in the nation, and of course those outside it but involved in the narrative. Mockler starts the account by telling the story of the Battle of Adowa in the 1890s, where the Italians tried to conquer the country in order to turn it into a colony. Ethiopia was one of two countries who were still not colonies at that time, and Italy coveted it as a colony. The Ethiopians were stronger than other tribes that resisted colonialization, and of course the Italians weren't as well organized as the British or as ruthless as the Belgians. The defeat at Adowa left the Italians jealous and angry, thinking that the Ethiopians had rejected colony status, and of course all Europeans at the time imagined that subject people wanted, or at least should want, to be subjects of a European nation.
   
   One difficulty that I had with the book is pretty much outside the parameters of what the writer can control. The country of Ethiopia and the people have very strange, foreign-sounding names. Of course they don't sound foreign to them, but to an American, they're hard to take in. One city discussed repeatedly in the text is called Debra Markos (sounds like a waitress at a diner in New Jersey to me) and one of the warlords is named Endalketchew. I always wanted to say Gesundheit when I saw his name.
   
   Outside of that, I enjoyed the book a great deal. The author deals with the issues presented by the events intelligently, and the result is a very good book.

1 comments about The Italian Navy and Fascist Expansionism, 1935-1940 (Cass Series--Naval Policy and History, 7).

1. This book really digs into how Mussolini and other high ranking Italian officials viewed the strategic situation in the Med. Sea during the 30's. It also describes Italy's situation (both economically and militarily). As the 30's progressed, Italy's alliances and foriegn policy changed. It is interesting to see how this happened, and why. Author did a very fine and detailed job. Very highly researched material. A must for any navy buff interested in Med naval warfare in WWII!

No comments about The Ethiopian Patriots: Forgotten Voices of the Italo-Abyssinian War 1935-41 (Spellmount Military Studies).

1 comments about Rape of Ethiopia, 1936 (Ballantine's illustrated history of the violent century. Politics in action).

1. I read this book here , in Brazil.I'm an agronomist and I like to read books.
   About the "Rape" of Ethiopia, by fascist Italy, this book is concise and good.I read it about twenty years ago, and I still have this book.This book also has many photos, all of them B&W photos.This book is very easy to read and understand.In fact, I read all of it, in less than four hours.
   I'm not an expert about this subject.In my opinion, the main failure of this book is to be a little biased.This book isn't pro-facist.
   The main failure of this book is to almost forget, the terrible fact of this "rape" had so many supporters, outside nazi Germany and Italy.
   Really, there was some sanctions, but as this book shows, they were, all weak and only for a small period of time.
   In fact, this out of time colonial war, was the last to be did in Africa.
   At that time, we must not forget, the fact of so many famous and respected americans such as Wilbur Wright, Charles A. Lindberg, Dr. Morris Fishbein(AMA's president and jew), etc. were eugenicists.
   The support or even more, the "washing hands" for this brutal war and "rape", was enormous in USA, England and Canada.
   If you don't believe, remember the fact, that after this "rape" the sactions became over and commercial relations, between Italy and USA or England return to normal.In 1940, Winston Churchill sent a message to Mussolini, giving to him, some parts of Africa as an exchange, to Italy's neutrality in World War II.
   Even having these very small failures, this book is concise and good as an overview, about this subject.

1 comments about At War with Waugh: The Real Story of Scoop.

1. This is a nice short read about Deedes journalist relationship with Waugh-the author of Brideshead and other novels. I laughed at some of Deedes tales about Waugh. He really had some wit, and expressed it with some conviction to to his bosses. Waugh also had a disdain for Americans. I found myself laughing at Deedes memories of these. Obviously, this was a war setting, and not a pleasant time for any of these journalists stationed in Addis Abada.
   
   This is a nice little story about a war preceeding World War II. The author is an experienced writer detailing his early war journalism.

2 comments about Waugh in Abyssinia (From Our Own Correspondent).

1. Today there are only two copies available on Amazon used books! What a great book. Only 169 pages, but a wonderful insight into the leadin to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (not long before WWII) and thru to the early period of the consolidation of the Italian victory.
   The super justly famous Evelyn Waugh created, in this book, a tremendously educational outline and insight into a whole period, and parts of it are so witty that tears of laughter were running down my face several times.
   
   Interestingly, to me at least, the original purchaser of the copy I got evidently did so in 1986, in Nairobi. I have a feeling it is not available at your local newsstand, but if I knew how good it is and didn't already have it.. I'd sure be looking for it.



2. I agree with the other reviewer of this book that much of Evelyn Waugh's travel writing, at least in the 1930s when he was at his sharpest as a writer, was among the best in English in the twentieth century (comparable to Robert Byron and Peter Fleming), and that this title is at the top of the Waugh list. Readers should know, however, that there is a very inexpensive anthology of all of Waugh's travel writings available from amazon: Waugh Abroad (ISBN 1400040760). It is in hardcover in the Everyman series and amazon sells it new for less than $ 20. I may be overlooking something, but the anthology seems to be a far better choice: Evelyn Waugh went lots of places and wrote brilliantly about many, including but not limited to Ethiopia.

5 comments about Cry Wolf.

1. I recently read Cry Wolf and found the story-line, the tone and the characters' attitudes so dated I can find nothing positive to say about the book, or for that matter the 1980's.



2. This is another great book from a fine author. The setting is 1935 Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a landlocked country. The League of Nations has imposed a weapons import ban on all African countries. The Italians don't have to deal with this ban because they control one of the countries. That's the political situation.

   The Italians are on a rampage in Africa to gobble up as many countries as possible. They have been doing a massive military buildup along the Ethiopian border. The Ethiopians know what is about to happen. They enlist the aid of two "men of the world" to buy and deliver four ancient armored cars and a variety of other weapons.

   Throw into this mix an American reporter that happens to be a beautiful woman, an ancient Ethiopian cheiftan who wants to fight battles the traditional way, an Italian aristocrat that has purchased his commission and you have a good mix to create a story from.

   This is a long book, but interesting. The chapters are long. The story is very entertaining and at times even humorous. Wilber Smith has done an excellent job of capturing this era in time. The details of the scenery and the people are right on.

   If you are an Italian, you probably will not enjoy they way that Smith has stereotyped them. But, it is believable...




3. I have been reading this man's books since I was 14. I have never read one that wasn't excellent but two are far above the rest, this one and Hungry as the Sea. This book has something for everyone. The story is compelling, gripping, and stands the test of time. Anyone reading this now will still want to know how the people in Africa are doing today. Beware, if you read this book you will become hooked on this man's writing, I did and 24 years later I can't wait for each new one he writes.



4. I have no hesitation in giving this African adventure five stars! An American adventurer in Ethiopia in the late 1930s guides a caravan of armoured cars into the interior to escape the advancing Italians. Highly recommended!
   
   Also highly recommended is "Sands of the Kalahari," by William Mulvilhill.
   The Sands of Kalahari



5. First of all, I am not Ethiopian, and therefore have no ax to grind. Secondly, I was impressed by Wilber Smith's vivid writing talent. That said, I'll even throw in the fact that I was thoroughly enjoying the book, right up until page 143. At that page, Smith would have us to believe that Sara, a 'virtuous' Ethiopian maiden of the era, 1935, or just before WWII, thinks it proper to 'make love with twenty men before I marry Gregorius', her fiancee. 'Why twenty?' asks Vicky, the book's leading female character; 'Why not twenty-three or twenty-six?' 'Oh no,' said Sara primly, 'I would not want people to think me a loose woman!' But Wilber Smith would have us to believe, from this and succeeding pages, that all Ethiopians are expressly the very image of Sara's 'prim' behavior, the absolute utmost in moral debauchery, and that Sara and her kin think nothing of beating back over-friendly fellow Ethiopian welcoming committees with whips and rifle butts, trompling a woman carrying a child under a camel's hooves, and eating huge raw strips of fresh red-dripping bloody meat with their bare teeth, among other 'cultural norms', all served up with such smooth narrative skill that the average reader, bedazzled by Smith's exceptional writing talent, may end up with the notion that real-life Ethiopians are little better than cannibals, but something less than Neanderthal. I know a 'hatchet job' when I see one, and I am appalled at Smith's not-so-obvious hidden agenda to leave the world with such a dastardly impression of the fair land of Ethiopia as this. The book, presented and extolled as a masterpiece, is a raw smear job under the thin veneer of the loudly acclaimed 'Grand Master', as vile a piece of cheap pulp filth as I have ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on, and I have given it the one-star it deserves without the least misgiving or hesitation. If this is a taste of what Wilber Smith has to offer with his '80 million copies sold', I'll leave his legacy to the braying mob and continue the search for quality reading material elsewhere, thank you very much.

5 comments about Scoop.

1. Yes, I'd be bold enough to name Evelyn Waugh as one of the world's greatest writers, a true genius when the word actually meant something (it's handed out too freely nowadays!); we shall likely never see his match again. "Scoop" is not only hilarious (I laughed out loud quite often), but the satire is as timely as it ever was. He is a keen observer of human beings and his depiction of the disorderly East African government and the Fleet Street news agency so given to politically motivated perks that a trick cyclist had been engaged to edit the Sports Page on a five year contract is spot on. All of the absurdity is wonderful. An absolute delight.



2. Overall, a very satisfying read, but somewhat disjointed. The beginning and ending -- the two parts which take place at Boot Magna in the English countryside -- are laugh-out-loud funny. The middle section, which takes place with the protaganist, William Boot, in the mythical African nation of Ishmaelia, is more straightforward and serious. The portions of the book which chronicle Boot's relationship with Katchen felt like they were torn out of a Hemingway book, given the sparse dialog and direct emotions. I felt as if this book might have been started by a very young, impressionable Waugh during a time when he was experimenting with different styles, trying to find the one which best suited him... styles borrowed from Hemingway, Wodehouse, and Greene. Its slightly disjointed nature made me think that it was a book which he worked on in fits and starts... would write a little, put it back in the drawer, revisit it a couple of months later. Overall, it's a very good book by a writer a few years away from his peak.



3. Funny, but only in a clever way, not in a ha-ha way.
   
   I laugh out loud while reading Mark Twain, Douglas Adams, Carl Hiaasen and Paul Theroux.
   
   This just made me smile thinly and sardonically.
   
   Not that there is anything wrong with that...



4. Evelyn Waugh's send-up of the newspaper business, and where in other novels he could be bitterly satirical, here he's wildly farcical and broadly comical. William Boot, a nature writer for the DAILY BEAST, ("Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole" is given as an example of his "high-class style" of writing), is mistaken for the novelist John Boot and is sent to the African country of Ishmaelia. Here he encounters other journalists, many of them American, who are all looking for the scoop that will make them famous. Boot meets and falls in love with a woman named Kachen, and immediately the naïve Boot is in over his head romantically. But it's she who slips Boot the news about a planned coup d'etat, and the simple-minded journalist scoops everyone and eventually comes home a hero. Of course the wrong Boot (John) is given knighthood and the book ends, after additional mistaken identities are made, with everything being righted and Boot (William) going back to writing his innocuous nature articles, none the worse (or better) for wear. Waugh's humor is bright and airy, very reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse, who is actually alluded to at one point in the story. Lots and lots of laughs from beginning to end.



5. Heady and incredibly fun, this 1930s' look at the curious animal known as "foreign correspondent" is one hilarious read. Much of the book is tongue and cheek and a bitch-slap to the world of competitive newspapers (far more important then than now).
   
   The story centers around a hapless rural-life columnist for a London newspaper, who is mistaken for someone else and sent to Africa to report on the bloody conflict in a fictional country (which predicts, a bit, the reality of the 1960s). He is bunked down with a gaggle of correspondents from competing papers, each determined to get the scoop and win appaluse back in England. The comraderie, back-stabbing, misinformation and one-upsmanship is all just a vodka swallow away from how journalism really works.
   
   The reporters make up so much of their stories that when our hero actually gets a real hot one, he is told that -- even though it is true -- he can't file it because the fictional version was discredited the day before. If you can follow that sentence, you will love "Scoop."