The Emperor

Haile Selassie reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 until he was overthrown by the army in 1974.  Based on interviews with Selassie's servants and closest associates, this is Kapuscinski's fascinating account of Selassie, his Byzantine court, and his eventual downfall.  Perhaps one of the greatest anatomies of power and its delusions ever written, The Emperor ultimately transcends Selassie and Ethiopia to become an allegory of all totalitarian governments.   Translated by William R. Brand and Kataryna Mroczkowska-Brand.

"Kapuscinski's writing, always wonderfully concrete and observant, conjures marvels of meaning out of minutiae.  And his book transcends reportage, becoming a nightmare of power...that reads as if Italo Calvino had rewritten Machiavelli.... An unforgettable, fiercely comic, and finally compassionate book."
--Salman Rushdie