Description: Historians and scholars of Ethiopia have long struggled to understand the paradox of how Africa's most productive agricultural system, which sustained an extraordinary imperial culture over two millennia, can also be home to periodic, gut-wrenching famine and rural poverty.
Brief description: Donald Crummey (1941-2013) was regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on Ethiopian history. His many books include Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia and Land, Literacy, and the State in the History of Sudanic Africa.
Review Quotes: "Has relevance extending well beyond the Wallo region itself or even Africa, to the analysis and understanding of famine worldwide. It will stand as a fitting final monument to one of the great scholars in the field." --Christopher Clapham, author of The Horn of Africa