Customer Reviews (1)

How Eritrea Got the Shaft from the USA, Ethiopia, etc.
This book does a good job of describing how the interests of the Eritrean people were sacrificed in the name of Ethiopian aggrandizement, British post-WW 2 decline, and American Cold War fears. Though Yohannes seems attimes to be less than objective, on balance I think he gives a concisepicture of the manner in which the so-called "free" world turnedits back on Eritrea's right to self-determination, all the while protestingcommunism's trampling of the same rights. The Eritreans, in fact, have beenso scarred psychologically by this hypocrisy that they now have a"bunker" mentality that sees no friends but many potential foes.This in part explains their intransigence towards Ethiopia about a fewsquare miles of worthless desert. This is a good purchase for anyonewanting a basic understanding of the now 50 year old Ethiopian-Eritreanconflict, which appears now to be entering a sixth decade, with no end insight. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is an anthropological account of the lives of the villagers in the Eritrean village of Mai Weini.It is a study of the people, their livelihood and land tenure during times of turbulence in the village and in the nation of Eritrea.Mai Weini, a village in the Eritrean highlands, has been faced with numerous challenges such as drought and the effects of the thirty-year war fought between Eritrean liberation fighters and the Ethiopian government.The war culminated in Eritrea's independence in 1993.The Eritrean war for independence, is one of the longest wars in Africa's history.In this comprehensive study of Mai Weini Tronvoll examines the question of how the people of rural Eritrea coped with the terrifying events of the war, and managed to maintain and reproduce a "kind of" normal life in the villages.

Mai Weini, or "Sweet Water" in English (lit. "water grape"), is a village composed of some 85 households and 333 inhabitants.It is a small cluster of dwellings situated in the rugged and barren mountainous landscape of Eritrea's highlands.In addition to exploring Mai Weini, however, the book also provides a general ethnographic account of the Tigrinya-speaking Semitic people of these highlands.Using Mai Weini as an example, basic questions are answered such as: How do the villagers live?How are their relationships among themselves organized?What are their activities during an annual cycle?How do they cope with the unpredictable whims of nature, and with possible crop failure?In what way has the war affected village life?To what degree does religious adherence influence their daily activities?What are the organizing principles of the land tenure system, and to what degree do they affect the organization of the village? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good Book
I found the book to be an insightful look into Italian Colonialism in Eritrea. However Tekeste does little if any effort to hide his bias against Eritrean Independence, and Nationalism. If choosing this book keep in mind to read just the facts and leave his many opinions alone.

BAISED
BAISED ... Read more

Product Description
Murray Last, the eminent editor of Journal of Modern African Studies, says about Two Weeks in the Trenches, “ I found it so moving that I couldn’t put it down....” He further notes that he found “The Heart,” one of the short stories in the book, “...more captivating than I did the first time around. Of course, the rhythms of the sentences, the restrained poetry of some of the phrasing and words, were as much a delight as before. It reads extraordinarily well in English (it makes me wonder how the original Tigrinya sounds), with its clarity, its near-simplicity of expression. I could imagine it being read aloud....”“Heart” is a word used in Tigrinya more than in most languages, and the heart is at the center of Alemseged Tesfai’s writing. Ranging from the heart of children and families to the heart of Eritrea’s struggle for independence, Two Weeks in the Trenches is the testimony of Alemseged Tesfai’s own heart, too. It quickens when confronted with all that remains of one particular soldier after a battle—just a human organ, a heart in the dust—and the result is an unforgettable story of war that is worthy to join the most ancient and eloquent chorus of all peace.”--Charles Cantalupo, Co-translator of We have Our Voice (RSP, 2000) and We Invented the Wheel (RSP, 2002) ... Read more

Product Description
Prologue: This is a travel narrative about Eritrea, atiny sun-drenched country along the Red Sea, and Ethiopia, its giantsouthern neighbor and former colonial overlord. Among the oldestcivilizations on earth, these two African countries can boast over2,000 years of recorded history.

Eritrean and Ethiopian histories interlock, yet still maintaindistinctive features. Eritrea's past revolves around foreignincursions and occupation, as well as ongoing trade and culturalmingling with Mediterranean and Arabian worlds. Ethiopian historyspeaks of imperial glory and dominance, and for great swaths of timeisolation, as its Christian kingdoms held out in highland strongholdswhile Islamic and pagan militaries swirled around them.

Today, both countries, having just emerged from a thirty-year war, aredirt poor. Many citizens live on less than one dollar a day and bothnations receive millions of dollars annually in food and developmentaid. But, with many well-trained professionals among local and exiledpopulations, rebounding economies, the rule of law, and rich historiesand cultures to draw upon, Eritrea and Ethiopia represent thebrightest hope for democracy and growth in Africa in the newmillennium. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

fun reading
If you can not go to these places yourself, it is fun to at least read about them. Loved it.

Either she should not visit or not have written a book!
Poor Julia,
Wined in Asmara and then left to her and friends devices
in Ethiopia!

Everything in Eritrea was wondeful but not so in Ethiopia.
Julia struggled during her stay in Ethiopia and denigrated
almost all of her travel sites - too many people, watery
tankwa, mud hut church, too much money, etc.

Strangely, of all the Amharic proverbs she puts to print,
she denigrates one tribe. One wonders how she managed to learn
enough Amharic to transliterate!

Lastly, one should tell Julia that Eritrea was never a colony
of Ethiopia.

A waste of her time to visit Ethiopia and a waste of her time
writing about her travels in Ethiopia while at the same time
waxing poetic about the "African experience".

What a great find! Excellent reading and good fun!
It is not a surprise to me that there are such mixed reviews of this book. It is obvious by reading the reviews that you either loved it or hated it. That said, I read it and thought it was fantastic! If you have an opened mind, and a sense of wonder - as does the author of this book - than it will be apparent that most of these negative reviews have an alterior motive. Why is that? Africa is a continent that is as diverse as these reviews! Coincidence? Please read this book with the intent that it was written: as a travel narrative. How often are we lucky enough to read the accounts of a woman travelling through these two contrasting countries? It is a perspective; and like any work of art it brings something different in everyone who views it. I'm happy to say that this book gave me an excellent insight into these countries in an easy to read and understand manner. Ms. Stewart's experiences seem wonderful, scary, mysterious...all description given to the countries as well as the continent. Bravo! It's a rare treasure and wonderful addition to my library!

This book deserves a rating of zero!
Don't waste your money on this book. The author of this book was unable to grasp anything beyond the trivial and superfluous thus completely missed the essence of the two countries. The author obviously doesn't bother to check facts as she repeats artificial histories created by liberation fronts as historic facts. Her rush to generalize is very troubling. Both countries are extremely diverse (Eritrea has more than 8 languages while Ethiopia has over than 30 languages.) The number of ethnic groups is much higher close to a total of 100, some living in both countries. Simple generalizations like "Eritreans" or "Ethiopians" for the most part are not valid. The author simply was unable to recognize the diversity of the cultures with in the two countries and the complex historical relationship that exists between the two countries.

For the most part the book is packed with ignorant babble and definitely a waste of time and money. I give it one star only because that is the lowest rating that I can give. This book deserves a rating of zero!

Read for Yourself
Surprised that a reader/reviewer writes off this fascinating book as a travel guide, which means he entirely misunderstands the book's genre (and misreads the subtitle of the book "through the eyes of a traveller"); it is a travel narrative not a travel guide, which in travel narrative style does not pretend to offer the reader with prices of hotels and lists of good restaurants, but rather gives the armchair and actual traveller a glimpse of the atmosphere of a country and its people as a snapshot in time. Stewart has accomplished this task well. The Ethiopia and Eritrea she visited several years ago, have already changed, and it is valuable that some of their pre-border-war character - albeit from one person's experiences - was captured.Yes, you should buy Bragg if you want a good travel GUIDE, but read this for insight and entertainment. ... Read more

Product Description
Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Eritrea, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Eritrea, including Ethiopia and Eritrea, doing business, USAID (over 5000 pages), agriculture, energy, Mickey Leland Initiative, Reconciliation Processes, commercial guides, food aid, and more.This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book.This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material.Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages t ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, 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 1058 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.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Comrade's Diary
There's not much material out there on Africa's longest running civil war, which is depressing for newcomers to the history of this conflict. Of what does exist, Connell's narrative is a valuable look into life with the Eritrean rebels seeking to split from a brutish Ethiopian state. In this book we find him getting strafed by Ethiopian jets, suffering through long desert hikes behind the lines, and reporting on the refugee situation. It is a fascinating look at the politics of rebel Eritrea and the collateral damage of warfare in the Horn of Africa.

As he states at the beginning, Connell is sympathetic to the EPLF (Eritrean Popular Liberation Front). So other than high-level news reports, you don't get much consideration of what's going on outside rebel(EPLF)-occupied Eritrea. The account is quite one-sided, even against the other rebel groups operating in Eritrea. The EPLF was a Marxist-oriented revolutionary movement from the beginning.Much of the book is devoted to educating the reader on the EPLF's great progress in pulling off land reforms, sharing Maoist "political education" with the rural population, and teaching the worker exploitation inherent in capitalism. All of which can be skimmed and discarded, but it takes away from the main strength of the book: that he was one of only a few reporters on the ground to witness much of Africa's most bizarre conflict. I wanted to learn more about the offensives, why the Soviets got involved, and what was going on from a big picture level. Reading endless detail about EPLF comrades setting up farm cooperatives in rural villages was not terribly exciting.

The definitive book on the Ethiopian/Eritrean war has not yet been written. But Connell's "Against All Odds" will give you insight into the struggles of the main leftist guerrilla group and their experience between 1977-1991.

PS- For war buffs, this book is a little light on its treatment of the battles and the maps included reveal few details.

If you read on book one eritrea, read this one.
This was the first book that i bought one a recent trip to Eritrea and although it may be bias in favor of Eritrea, and the EPLF it is rightly so to counter act all of the Eithiopian propraganda that the west gets. this is a first hand acount of what the author saw for himself during the 30 year conflict with Ethiopia. it is a great read with a lot of the authors own feeligs and stories. this is a great way to get away from the dry military history of, this tank went there, the army moved there, this division had this big gun here style. I bet if you read this book you will not be able to explain african politics in short little articals like one would find in newspapers and weeklys. the reader will find that the world and africa are more compicated then we like to belive, and that africans, and in this case Eritreans can make a nation with out the heavy hand of western help.

Excellent Book
This is an excellent book:I recommend it for anybody interested in history of the Eritrean struggle.Thisbook, written by an author who, in the process had a near death experience( Missed by a fighter jet!!) ,offers a very realistic and indepth look at the longest civil war in Africa.Ithappens to be one of the few books wriiten about a traumatic and tragic time for the people of Eritrea. The author ,a journalist,whose intention was to cover Africa from Cairo to Johannesburg was caught up in development in Addis Ababa(Ethiopian capital).For the next couple of decades has practically been part of the struggle.He shares his experience and insigths in this book.The book begins with a raid into Asmara (Eritrean capiltal)by the then guerrila figthers.Then the reader is taken deep into rebel territory in the sahel mountains for an upclose and personal with the "tegadelti" liberation fighters. It gives a very vivid account several battles and the descrptions of them by both rank and file guerrilas and the highest commanders. You will meet in the book courageous souls who survived a thousand mile subsea level trek.You will meet...Fana,stereotypcal Eritrean highlander woman who was just as rebelious to tyranny as the ones actually figting it out with an AK47.The book explores the reasons behind the conflict (eventhougth not as detailed as the struggle itself).It presents a decent view of the oppossing sides. It is one of the most exciting and educational books I have ever read. ... Read more