Product Description
The Horn of Africa has the highest endemism of any region in Africa, and around 70 species are found nowhere else in the world. Many of these are confined to the isolated highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea, but a large number of larks specialise in the arid parts of Somalia and adjoining eastern Ethiopia, whilst the island of Socotra has its own suite of endemic species. The region is also an important migration route and wintering site for many Palearctic birds.This is the first field guide to the birds of this fascinating region, and a companion to Birds of East Africa by two of the same authors. Over 200 magnificent plates by John Gale and Brian Small illustrate every species that has ever occurred in the five countries covered by the guide, and the succinct text covers the key identification criteria. Special attention is paid to the voices of the species, and over 1000 up-to-date colour distribution maps are included. This long-awaited guide is a much-needed addition to the literature on African birds and an essential companion for birders visiting the region. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Birds of the Horn of Africa
This is another excellent bird guide by the authors. On a recent trip to Ethiopia, I found this book to be an indispensable companion. The drawings are outstanding as is the text on each bird. The range maps and in particular the elevation guides were very helpful in this geographically variable country. The details of this guide are well covered in previous reviews and this book would be a welcome addition to the library of those who love to travel in Africa. I left this guide with our local semi-bird guide to encourage his growth in birding. He was both emotional and appreciative to receive this book. I bought a new one on my arrival home.
Ted Peterson
Lynnwood WA USA

Excellent plates makes it a must-have for birding in the region
Basics:2009, softcover, 496pp, field/identification guide, 213 color plates of all 1,000+ species in the region; range maps

This is another top quality book produced by the authors for the eastern region of Africa.Upon opening this book, you'll recognize many of the plates from their earlier work, "Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa" (see #6 below).You'll also see many new plates along with modifications of prior ones.

The artistry is very good, easily making this book equal to or better than any other field guide on African birds.The 213 color plates illustrate all 1,000+ species found in the four "Horn" countries of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia (plus the island of Socotra, which belongs to Yemen).Nearly every bird is shown with multiple (2-5) drawings that display excellent detail.The Yellow Wagtail has 13 different illustrations that compare the wide variation of this species.The plates do a great job at showing variations between genders, ages, and subspecies.I especially appreciated the extra effort that went into separating out the many subspecies.Additional focus seems to have been given to in-flight poses for many of the non-passerines.

A brief paragraph is given for each bird across from its illustration.Although the amount of text may seem light, the information is very informative, to the point, and precise.About 80% of the information is on identification.A couple more lines are dedicated to habitat, distribution notes, and voice.You may want to take note of the font size, which is small and thin; consequently, you might want to have your reading glasses handy.

The range maps - one for each bird - shows the resident, breeding, and non-breeding ranges in three different colors.These maps reflect the bird's range within only the four countries and artificially stop at the political borders.The maps show very good detail; however, this is sometimes difficult to make out due to the shaded highland regions in the background and to the rather faint gray boundaries that separate the countries.Ranges of birds with a very restricted distribution (e.g., Sidamo Lark, Ash's Lark, Djibouti Francolin, Black-backed Cisticola) can be difficult to see with just a small dot representing the range.Inserting an arrow would have been helpful.Making a more prominent note of the 70+ endemics would also have been appreciated, versus simply burying the word "endemic" within the text.

In case you're wondering if you would need this book over the authors' prior book for East Africa, the answer is "Yes, if you are visiting any of these four countries."Twenty percent of the birds found in the Horn are not in the other book.Also, when there is overlap of the species between the two regions, the authors' have modified the plates to reflect the plumages of the local subspecies.

This is a superb guide that will be essential for birding in these countries.Being the only complete book for this region makes it even more indispensible.

1) Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea by Atkins/Ash
2) Ethiopia's Endemic Birds by Urban
3) A Guide to Endemic Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea by Pol
4) Ethiopia: In Search of Endemic Birds by Francis
5) Birds of Somalia by Ash
6) Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Stevenson
7) Birds of Africa South of the Sahara by Sinclair/Ryan
8) Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania by Zimmerman
9) A Checklist of the Birds of Ethiopia by Urban
(written by Soleglad at Avian Review or Avian Books, May 2009) ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Cities of the World, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 7298 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.A compilation of current information on cultural, geographic, and political conditions in 193 countries and their cities covering six continents, based on the Department of State's Post Reports. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 760 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Based on the scholarship in the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Africa, this work presents Africa, from Egypt to Cape Town and from prehistoric times to the present day. This set spans many disciplines, covering animals, foods, holidays and festivals, tribal groups, ecology, music and art, trade and economy, geography, religion, folklore, and fossil and skeletal discoveries. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World Education Encyclopedia, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4939 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.This country-by-country survey of educational systems provides detailed essays on the histories, legal foundations, and primary and secondary educational systems of 233 countries. This edition provides up-to-date coverage of reorganized educational systems and technological advances. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4948 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices provides information on current religious practices around the world with an emphasis on how religions impact the daily lives of their followers. Included are detailed entries on 13 major religions, such as Christianity and Islam, and entries on 28 religious subgroups, such as Shi'ites or Baptists.Provides Date of Origin, Dietary Practices, Number of Followers, Social Aspects, Controversial Issues, Major Theologians and Authors, Cultural Impact, Houses of Worship, Holy Places, What is Sacred, Rituals, Rites of Passage, Festivals and Holidays, Membership, Social Justice, Modes of Dress and Founder.Also includes significant religions in 193 countries that detail History, Political Impact, Other Religions, Religious Tolerance and more. ... Read more

Product Description
This book examines the rise and fall of the Ethio–Eritrean federation which existed from 1952 to 1962. The author argues that the federation was abolished by Eritrean social and political forces rather than by Ethiopia. The UN imposed federation and its constitution was doomed to fail, as these were foreign to Eritrean and Ethiopian conceptions of power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

VALUE LESS!!
This book is a product of a person who does not know what he is saying.Please nobody should weast his time reading this ethiopist ideas.

Excellent!
Excellent presentation. The book focuses more on passing on facts (excelent footnotes and appendix) to the reader than giving analysis of events and their significance from the author's point of view. It definitely sheds a new perspective of the beginning of the Ethio-Eritrean war. There is not much about TPLF, but there's an interesting coverage of rise and fall of ELF and the rise of EPLF. As strange as it may sound, the book also makes you appreciate that the war was carried out as it was. It makes you appreciate the Ethio-Eritrean civil society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Exhaustive analysis of Eritrea-Sudan-Ethiopia relations
This is a thoroughly researched book that includes opinions, comments and analyses of scholars and commentators familiar with Eritrea's external relations. For readers interested in geopolitics, political economy, rural and agricultural development, and conflict resolution in North Africa, this is an essential read. It has three chapters dealing with the historical contexts of foreign relations, as well as a chapter analysing the role the US has played and will continue to play in the region, in particular with relation to the war on terror and keeping tabs on radicalism. The last chapter offers some conclusions and way forward. After reading 160 pages, you'll get a good grasp of the problems, issues, concerns and drivers surrounding the sustained conditions of hunger, poverty, armed conflict, poor governance, institutional failures and widespread underdevelopment in the Horn of Africa. The fact that is published jointly by Chatham and Brookings gives credibility to this scholarly work. Enjoyable reading! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Never Kneel Down
I bought this used book with a little hesitation that it might be with just a fair condition but to my surprise I found it very satisfactory and would like to commend the seller.On the contrary, I was so disappointed by another seller from which I bought a book called Eritrea: even the stones are burning, when I found a lot of underlining in the book which was advertised as new by this seller.
Thanks. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Eritrean Jews, Synagogues in Eritrea, Operation Magic Carpet, Asmara Synagogue, History of the Jews in Eritrea. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 17. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Operation Magic Carpet is a widely-known nickname for Operation On Wings of Eagles (Hebrew: , Kanfei Nesharim), an operation between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to the new state of Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden, in a secret operation that was not made public until several months after it was over. At some point, the operation was also called Operation Messiah's Coming. Following the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Muslim rioters engaged in clashes in Aden that killed 82 people and destroyed a number of Jewish homes. Early in 1948, accusations of the murder of two Muslim Yemeni girls led to looting of Jewish property. Aden's Jewish community was economically paralyzed, as most of the Jewish stores and businesses were destroyed. In response to an increasingly perilous situation, most of the Yemenite Jewish community secretly emigrated to Israel between June 1949 and September 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet. A smaller, continuous migration was allowed to continue into 1962, when a civil war put an abrupt halt to any further Jewish exodus. Some wealthy Jewish families who doubted promises of a better future in Israel decided not to leave their properties, and a total of some 300 Jews remained in Yemen. During the course of Operation Magic Carpet (19491950), the overwhelming majority of Yemenite Jews - some 47,000 Yemeni, 1500 Aden as well as 500 Djiboutian and Eritrean Jews - were airlifted to Israel. Most of them had never seen an aircraft before. They left their religious ways of life as farmers and adopted a totally new...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4334826 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Could have been better
This book tries to present a wide view/approach into the so called 'border' conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Most of the chapters are well researched, prepared, and written. However, it looks like the book was rushed for publication. There are some very obvious mistakes. For instance, there are a few places where the names of the countries were interchanged (by mistake I assume).
Most of all, the last chapter of the book by Patrick Giles on 'Violence & identity along the Eritrean-Ethiopian border' was a total failure in covering the major factor to the crisis. It is public knowledge that the 'identity' crisis and 'Greater Tigray' ambition of the Ethiopian governement was one of the main factors which escalated the conflict to the highest level. Instead of covering this fact, the writer concentrated on some very minor topics which seemed to have the goal of painting a negative image of Eritrea. This chapter sounds more of an Ethiopian propaganda more than anything and SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pro-Eritrean Propaganda
Pateman says in his intro that Eritreans almost universally like his book, and it's easy to see why. This is a highly uncritical, almost cartoonish look at the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict, in which the Eritreans are always brave and enlightened, the Ethiopians cowardly and villainous. Eritrea is "an oasis of peace and energy... a place of hope for all fair-minded men and women." Why, it's practically the Switzerland of east Africa. It's particularly irritating that Pateman chides Western academics for uncritically supporting Ethiopia throughout the conflict, then describes Eritrea in the same propagandistic terms. Pateman is clearly too close to his subject to evaluate it objectively. For a more sophisticated and nuanced look at this topic, check out Robert Kaplan's "Surrender or Starve".

Workmanlike List Of Eritrea Knowledge
For a definitive summary of Eritrean history and social knowledge, you can't ask for much more than this magnum opus from Pateman. Eritrea's 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, finally achieved in 1993, is a remarkable story which deserves much more attention from the outside world, and Pateman is just the sympathetic and personally knowledgeable expert to tell the story. While this book is a treasure trove of all sorts of useful information on all aspects of Eritrea, it is mostly written as a never-ending list with few overall insights or analysis. The early parts of the book show some unprofessional sour grapes toward other writers on the subject, and for some reason Chapter 1 devolves into a useless dissertation on Marxist theories of nationalism which is straight from disconnected professor-land. Most importantly, history has made this book's ongoing usefulness a shaky proposition. The most immense event imaginable for Eritrea - their independence - happened right after this book's first edition, making much of it outdated. This spectacular historical development should have encouraged a significant re-write, or even an entire new book, from this admitted expert authority on the country (though a lack of resources would be forgivable). Thus, Pateman's quick and sketchy epilogue on post-independence developments in this second edition does not do full justice to the remarkable story of Eritrea and its hardworking people. [~doomsdayer520~]

The definitive book on Eritrea
I came new to this subject but became rivetted by Pateman's engaged and engaging style. He writes in an easily, understandable but profound way about one of the most significant struggles for nationhood in the XXcentury. He covers many centuries of history but convinces me that Eritreais indeed a special place. An enduring sense of nationhood developed duringthe liberation struggle a sense which has deepened during the cowardlyEthiopian attacks of the last few months. Pateman has helped me understandwhy the Eritreans have survived andwhy thay may become very importantactors in Africa in the next century. ... Read more