THE EMPEROR: Downfall of an Autocrat

by Ryszard Kapuscinski ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1982

As a Polish foreign correspondent, Kapuscinski thought he could write about the bungling Gierek regime in Warsaw (the book appeared in Polish in 1978) by writing about the decaying Haile Selassie regime in Addis Ababa. Both leaders have now passed into history without, it must be said, much illumination from Kapuscinski. After the Emperor's 1974 imprisonment, he sneaked around Addis Ababa interviewing people who had served His August Majesty--as a pillow bearer, as an officer in the Ministry of Ceremonies or the Ministry of the Pen. We find out, in snippets, that Haile Selassie spent hours listening to oral reports from spies and intelligence-gatherers, preferring to keep such information in his head; that he personally fed his palace lions and panthers chunks of meat while Ethiopians starved in the north; that he was attended by legions of servants and lackeys who, like everyone else, were not allowed to look him straight in the eye; that he shuffled people about, making and breaking his subjects on the spot, during a daily period called the Hour of Assignments. Some historical details regarding the attempted 1960 coup and the subsequent, successful one emerge en route: once starvation hit the headlines through a British journalist, the development ideology fostered by the Emperor backfired in widespread discontent, and his rule was doomed. Most of the book, however, is pure atmosphere.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION