Several years ago, high in the medieval fortress city of Gondar, once the capital of Ethiopian emperors, I found myself in a poker game with an unusual assortment of Americans — three Peace Corps volunteers and a pair of U.S. Army Green Berets. Somehow, the game, with its clashing Americans, has always symbolized for me the double, contradictory role of American influence and involvement in the Ethiopia of Emperor Haile Selassie. On one hand, the United States supports the traditional, authoritarian regime of the Emperor. American money helps him suppress a regional rebellion in Eritrea without his worrying about the grievances that cause it; and American money allows him to procrastinate as much as he likes in implementing the reforms that might modernize Ethiopia. At the same time, the United States, largely through its influence in education, has catalyzed revolutionary forces that threaten the authoritarianism of the Emperor, and may someday transform Ethiopia. This second role is largely accidental, and many American officials do not recognize it. Ironically, one immediate sign of it is a periodic outpouring of anti-Americanism from young Ethiopians...

No other despot in the world has the romance and regality of His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings and Emperor of Ethiopia. This bronzed, slight, 72-year-old man, with curled gray hair and crinkled brow, has survived a lifetime of struggle emerging as Emperor in an era of brutal court intrigue, defending his land against the mustard gas and bombers of the Fascists, trying to modernize his medieval empire without revolution. A legend has been fashioned that describes him as an absolute yet incorruptible monarch, ruling with benevolence, not fear alone. Leonard Mosley’s book adds weight - in many ways, convincing weight - to the legend. Mosley is a British newsman and novelist who has spent much time in the Middle East and East Africa. His tone is respectful, admiring but not fawning. Mosley long ago made a hero of the little man who appealed in vain to the conscience of the League of Nations. But this does not blind him to the blemishes in the portrait...