King of Kings: Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

Offering his perspective as a grandnephew of Haile Selassie (1892–1975), Asserate crafts a biography of the late Ethiopian emperor that combines personal moments with a reasonably objective view of the man. Asserate claims to have written neither a scholarly nor a definitive biography, but he does present a multifaceted picture of the so-called Father of Africa, drawing from sources including his own memories, Selassie’s memoirs (which cover his reign through 1945), and numerous interviews with individual supporters and critics. The basically chronological work includes all of the major events of 20th-century Ethiopian history and Selassie’s life, from his youth as Ras Tafari Makkonen through the 1974 coup that deposed him and led to his death the following year. In between, Emperor Selassie successfully found allies to repel Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, began Western-style modernization efforts, and helped found the Organization of African Unity, while granting little power to anyone else and failing to deal with the 1973 famine. Asserate does not judge Selassie as harshly as others have, but he concludes that “Haile Selassie was unequal to the challenges that accompanied the headlong technological and economic development of the world.” [em](Nov.) [/em]