First published 2019
Robert D. Kaplan travels to northern Ethiopia in late 1984 as famine devastates the Horn of Africa. He finds himself in territory controlled by Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, far from the government-controlled capital where most Western journalists gather their stories. Kaplan discovers that hunger serves as both weapon and consequence in the ethnic conflict between the ruling Amharas of the central highlands and the northern peoples fighting for independence. While international media reports the crisis from Addis Ababa's perspective, Kaplan documents the rebel side of the story. He witnesses how political control determines food distribution and survival. His reporting spans from the height of the crisis through early 1987, when conditions temporarily improved. Kaplan deliberately seeks to correct what he sees as biased coverage by showing readers the northern rebels' experience of a famine that would return by late 1987 for the same political reasons he observed.
Genres: history, politics, african-literature, non-fiction, journalism, africa
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: documentary, first-hand-account
Setting: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Horn of Africa
Period: 1984, 1987
188 pages · Hardcover · Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Content warnings: war