The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Book Club - ONLINE - The Barefoot Emperor
Philip Marsden
Tuesday 10th May 2022
Online event starting at 19:00 BST - Public event (all welcome to join).
Note - Register for the event on Eventbrite and you'll be emailed a Zoom link shortly before the event.
For this book club we're going to discuss The Barefoot Emperor: An Ethiopian Tragedy by Philip Marsden.
A fascinating narrative excursion into a bizarre episode in 19th century Ethiopian and British imperial history, featuring a remote African despot and his monstrous European-built gun.
Towards the end of 1867, Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia burnt his own capital, took his vast mortar – named 'Sevastopol' – and began a retreat to the mountain stronghold of Mekdela. For months thousands of his followers struggled to build a road for the great gun, levelling the soil of the high plains, hacking out a way down into mile-deep gorges. At the same time, a hostile British force, under General Napier, was advancing from the coast. It was the climax to the reign of one of the most colourful and extraordinary rulers in African history.
Discovering traces of the road in the highlands, and drawing on years of involvement with Ethiopia, Philip Marsden recounts the story of Tewodros. From his spectacular rise – from camel-raider to King of Kings – Tewodros was a man who combined a sense of Biblical destiny with personal charisma and military genius. He restored the fortunes of the ancient Christian kingdom, introduced reforms to his army and to the church, and dreamed of an alliance with the great powers of Europe.
But as his reforms stalled and the British Foreign Office lost his letter to Queen Victoria, Tewodros's behaviour became more and more violent and erratic. When he imprisoned the British consul, years of negotiation culminated in one of the most bizarre – and expensive – campaigns of the Victorian age.
The Barefoot Emperor is history at its most thrilling and dramatic. Using narrative skills proven in such acclaimed books as The Bronski House and The Chains of Heaven, Philip Marsden recreates scenes and characters of glittering intensity – and the intriguing paradoxes of a central figure grappling not only with his own people and his own demons, but with the seductive and unstoppable approach of the modern world.Book a place using Eventbrite in order to be sent a link to the session. More registration details are on the Eventbrite page.
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The Barefoot Emperor: An Ethiopian Tragedy by Philip Marsden. Publisher : Harper Perennial, August 2008 ISBN : 9780007173464 (paperback) UK price £12.99 Kindle edition £6.49 |