King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia Hardcover – 2 Nov. 2015

While the subtitle `The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia` encapsulates the essence of his rise and fall, another way of putting it might well have been how the Emperor lost his clothes! But the author is far too balanced and mature in his approach and judgment to reduce the subject of his excellent and fascinating biography to such a cynical sound-bite.Asfa-Wossen Asserate is the grandson of Haile Selassie`s cousin Ras Kassa, who was the Emperor`s most trusted comrade-in-arms and closest advisor. They had grown up as blood-brothers, having together taken the sacrament of the Holy Communion, which in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church only happens on very special occasions. Ras Kassa`s son, Ras Asserate Kassa, in his turn also served the Emperor in a similar role and was the last President of the Imperial Crown Council. So it was that the author Asfa-Wossen Asserate himself spent his childhood and early youth as a prince of the extended royal family – of the House of David - and thus had a ringside view of and social contact with the Emperor.Lest this might suggest otherwise, the book is a far cry from any bias or prejudice towards his elder relation, for what we are presented with here is an extraordinarily objective portrayal of the Emperor as a somewhat aloof and tragic figure with, as Asserate sums up in the Epilogue, a mixture of `strengths and weaknesses` who had basically outlived his mission and message.How it started and blossomed into the long years of his rein - the highlights of his achievements, his ambitious programmes of development to propel backward Ethiopia into the modern age, his foreign travels, his international fame as a fighter against the Italian invasion and his exile during the dark days of that period, his triumphant return, his championship of black African freedom movements – to degenerate into his failure to reform the feudal system of land ownership and agriculture, and his disinclination or inability to come to terms with the advent of the era of democracy and the legitimate aspirations of his educated younger subjects, leading to his eventual downfall – all this is brilliantly captured in the book, complete with factual details, unique archival photographs, copious endnotes, glossaries of Ethiopian imperial titles and names, a genealogical table, a map of the Ethiopian Empire and its Provinces circa 1960, a comprehensive bibliography and a serviceable index!The book was originally written in German and this English translation is by Peter Lewis. It is an easy read, notwithstanding a few minor errors of text in the translation. The author who has lived in Germany for over 40 years and is a distinguished academic there is also a fluent English speaker as well; this came across impressively during his recent appearance on BBC Radio 4`s `Midweek` programme. In short, then, this book cannot be recommended too highly. It is undoubtedly a most authentic and authoritative account of an African icon of the 20th century and will form a valuable resource for historians and researchers.

Do read this insider yet objective account of the man who kept Ethiopia independent, barring a brief interlude of particularly brutal Italian rule (1935-1941).It is particularly illuminating (and understated) about the perfidious machinations of France and especially Britain. Having kicked out the Italians, the latter tried to gain control of Ethiopia at the end of World War Two, and was shamed into recognising Ethiopian sovereignty by Selassie’s adroit exposure of what was going on.The author is a bilateral descendant of Selassie, whom he knew well enough, enabling him to paint a convincing portrait of the dignified, intelligent but fiercely egotistical ruler - regent then emperor of Ethiopia during 1916-74- who insisted on referring to himself as ‘We’. Indeed, Asserate is very critical of Selassie’s increasingly despotic rule, especially after he snuffed out a potential coup in 1960.After liberation in 1941 from Italian control, Selassie’s supposed reforms did away with the independent power of the nobility, replacing it with a centralised, authoritarian state where the Emperor took all of the important decisions and many minor ones. But not much else changed, except for the rise of a new and small elite of bureaucrats. According to the author, by 1960 the ‘lives of most people in the Ethiopian countryside had not improved notably since ... 1941.’ Nearly one third of the viable land was owned by the Imperial family, with most of the rest owned by the nobility and the church.Selassie turned more and more to foreign affairs and long tours abroad. He built good diplomatic ties with the United States, both to gain preferential aid and loans and to offset the influence of Britain, which he admired but did not trust. Haile Selassie was also a major force in helping to found the Organisation of African Unity.The descriptions of various ceremonies are far too long for me, and the book would benefit from some good maps. But it is otherwise an excellent introduction to the charismatic but narrow Negus who left his country proud but severely impoverished, at the mercy of the big drought of 1973-74. It is sad and telling that when Selassie was toppled from power in 1974 by the equally despotic but far crueller Derge, barely a shot was fired and Selassie was led meekly to incarceration and death by smothering.

The biography written by Asfa Wossen Asserate, has rescued the reputation of Emperor Hailé Selassie from the malicious humour of Evelyn Waugh,s "Black Misschief" and the sensational but largely fictitious account of his fall in "The Emperor written byf Rudyard KapuczinskiThe present biography impresses because it shows the Emperor "warts and all" but it never descents to the level of caricature.It is rightly respectful(but not in an obsequious manner) of the Emperor's many achievements from the thirties until the mid fifties but also critical of his increasing autocratic personality during the last fifteen years of his reign.I admire the author's impartial rendering of the often craven attitude of the Etihopian nobility in thrall to the Emperor and more concerned by palace intrigues that the abysmal misery of the Ethiopian people in the sixties and seventies.The book is particularly interesting on the "coup' of 1960:in my opinion it is the first attempt to describe objectively the desperation of the conspirators as they realized that their benefactor,the Emperor,had feet of clay and more concerned by maintaining his style of autocratic government rather than caring about his people.wellbeing of his people;