The Emperor and Shah of Shahs - Softcover

Kapuscinski, Ryszard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 033033185X ISBN 13: 9780330331852

Publisher: Picador, 1994

Synopsis

"The Emperor", Haile Selassie: King of Kings, Lion of Judah - the absolute ruler of Ethiopia for 44 years, and possibly one of the most corrupt leaders of our time. The author, one of Poland's leading foreign correspondents, interviewed former members of the Emperor's inner court to produce this book which is a study of the man and his absolute power. "Shah of Shahs" begins in Iran in 1980. The revolutionaries have taken charge and in a deserted Tehran hotel, the author tries to make journalistic and human sense of the mass of notes, tapes, and photographs he has accumulated during his extended stay in Iran. The book offers a luminous synthesis of factual reports, impressions, and reflections offering readers a portrait of the psychological state of a country in revolution.

About this title

Review:

""[The Emperor]" transcends reportage, becoming a nightmare of power... An unforgettable, fiercely comic, and finally compassionate book."--Salman Rushdie "Kapuscinski transcends the limitations of journalism and writes with the narrative power of a Conrad or Kipling or Orwell."--Blake Morrison "A Stunning exhibit; the interviewed subjects. . .enunciate their memories of the days of Haile Selassie with a magical elegance that. . .achieves poetry and aphorism."--John Updike, "The New Yorker"

About the Author:

Born in Pinsk, now in Belarus, in 1932, Kapuscinski was the pre-eminent writer among Polish reporters. Kapuscinski's best-known book is just such a reportage-novel of the decline of Haile Selassie's anachronistic regime in Ethiopia - The Emperor, which has been translated into many languages. Shah of Shahs, about the last Shah of Iran, and Imperium, about the last days of the Soviet Union, have enjoyed similar success. He died in January 2007.

Neal Ascherson was born in Edinburgh in 1932, and has worked as a journalist all his life - mostly as a foreign correspondent in east-central Europe and in Africa. For some 12 years he was a columnist on The Observer and The Independent on Sunday. He wrote two books about Poland, and his recent works include Black Sea (1995) and Stone Voices (2002). Neal Ascherson lives in London and is married to the journalist and broadcaster Isabel Hilton.

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 033033185X
• ISBN 13: 9780330331852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304