he Rise of Barack Obama
by Photography and by Pete Souza

$ 18.45

Book Review

Illinois Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign has galvanized Democrats and independents in ways not seen or heard since John F. Kennedy was president. In fact, the belief in Obama's political positions, his charisma, and Barack's affinity for connecting with his audience has brought an endorsement from Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy.

Pete Souza has extensively documented Senator Barack Obama's rise to political stardom with exclusive photographs beginning with Obama's first day in the U.S. Senate. He has accompanied the Senator to seven countries including Kenya, South Africa, and Russia. Souza had unprecedented access to photograph private and political moments as senator and presidential candidate Obama went about his duties. His photographs of Obama have won national photojournalism awards for the past three years.

Souza is a freelance photographer and assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University. He has worked as an official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan and was also the official photographer for the President's June 2004 funeral. He is the author of two celebrated photographic books of President Reagan's term in office, Unguarded Moments: Behind-the-Scenes Photographs of President Reagan (1992) and Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan by Triumph Books (2004.)

Souza's photographs have also appeared as photo spreads or covers in renowned magazines as National Geographic, Life, Fortune, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. His photographs have also been part of group exhibits at the National Archives, Smithsonian Museum of American History, and Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Life After Death: The Burden of Proof
by Deepak Chopra

$ 10.50

Book Review

In India death is perceived very differently than in the West, "as a brief stopping point on an endless soul journey," says Chopra in this introduction to life beyond bodily existence. Chopra, a medical doctor and world leader in mind-body medicine as well as author of more than 45 books, now ventures to answer: what happens after we die? For Chopra, death deserves to be called miraculous, a "doorway to a far more important event—the beginning of the afterlife" and a mode of being that "can be as creative as living." Chopra effectively uses the classic Vedanta story of Savitri—a woman who comes home to find death, Lord Yama, waiting to take her husband, and who seeks the monk Ramana's advice to outwit death—to frame each chapter. Chopra grounds each topic in the long arc of this singular story, which is the perfect springboard for Chopra to introduce concepts such as Akasha (the highest stage a soul can attain) and Eternity within the Indian tradition (where we are beyond death, life, maleness, femaleness, and the experience of time). Chopra presents a fascinating account of life after death for Westerners that will certainly please his avid fans and draw in new readers as well.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

I Will
by Ben Sweetland

$ 8.50

Book Review

Sweetland offers a new angle on the metaphysical truth that happiness is a life-long journey that comes from creating, and not a state to aspire to in the future. In other words, what we do now and how we look at life now make us happy. He explains that the "I CAN" consciousness must be infused with the "I WILL" determination and developed through a plan of action, in order to reach our goals. Success is thus not a destination but a journey, from station to station. He lists the main reasons for unhappiness as a guilty conscience, self-pity, envy, selfishness, timidity, worry and the absence of a spiritual consciousness. He discusses the role of the subconscious mind and how it is activated by enthusiasm and explains how the subconscious follows the pattern established by the conscious mind. He throws light on the difference between potential and kinetic energy and the law of cause and effect and emphasizes that one must visualize in order to materialize. With deep psychological insight and in an informal, engaging style, he brings across the common sense and the ancient truths that we all carry within ourselves, for example that happiness comes from giving happiness. The last chapter contains specific formulas for specific objectives, i.e. affirmations for inter alia better health, domestic harmony, concentration, overcoming habits, public speaking, self-mastery, etc. This is one of the best motivational books I have read, positively inspiring and illuminating.

The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization and Democratization or Disintegration?
by Leenco Lata

$ 21.95

About The Author

Leenco Lata is a founding member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and has been serving in the Front's executive bodies from its inception. As the Deputy Secretary General of the OLF, he played a central role with the other leaders of OLF and TPLF/EPRDF in the drafting of the Transitional Period Charter of Ethiopia in July of 1991. Educated as a chemical engineer in America, Leenco Lata served the Ethiopian government in various technical capacities from 1972 to 1978 prior to joining the OLF.

Book Description

This work traces the evolution of the modern Ethiopian State and its consolidation under the last three successive regimes. Leenco Lata critically assesses the Transitional Period of the post-Dergue era between the July 1991 Conference, which ratified the Transitional Charter and the formation of the Transition Government of Ethiopia, and August 21, 1995, when the new Federal Constitution of Ethiopia was ratified. The author argues that the overthrow of the Dergue regime and the adoption of a democratic agenda in July 1991 was an important historical juncture that afforded Ethiopia the opportunity to make a clean break with her imperial and autocratic past.

As the deputy Secretary General of the Oromo Liberation Front, one of the major organizations to participate in the July 1991 Conference, Leenco Lata was deeply involved in the task of drawing up Ethiopia's post-Dergue political structure and the arduous task of conceptualizing the undertaking to democratize Ethiopia and make it a viable operational state. This book is a detailed firsthand account of how "this latest opportunity to decolonize and democratize the Ethiopian State ended in a disappointing failure."

Furthermore, the factors that favored or stood in the way of effecting a genuine transition to democracy are also catalogued and discussed. In particular, the US-led international community's influence, the key factor that could have kept the democratization process on track, is analyzed. In the final section, the author presents his recipe for change: The Ethiopian state must be further decentralized, decolonized and democratized if it is to escape the harrowing consequences of disintegration.

The History of Ethiopian Immigrants and Refugees in America, 1900-2000
by Solomon Addis Getahun

$ 72.10

About The Author

Solomon Addis Getahun was born in Gondar, Ethiopia. He has published half a dozen articles on aspects of Ethiopia and a book, History of the City of Gondar (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2005). Currently, he is an assistant professor of history at Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Book Description

Ethiopians form the third largest post-1960 African immigrant in the U.S. Over the years, their migratory patterns have changed in response to changes in Ethiopian and American diplomatic relationships. The Ethiopian immigrants also vary among themselves depending on whether they were granted asylum, are refugees, or benefit from the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery winners. Getahun studies the context of the immigrants' arrival, their patterns of settlement, and their adjustment in the U.S. Differences between immigrants may be explained by ethnic or regional origin, class, politics, and religion. The resultant communities support social and religious institutions and Ethiopians are succeeding in establishing community organizations and religious institutions and seek to influence U.S foreign policy towards Ethiopia.

Notes from the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood
by Nega Mezlekia

$ 14.00

About The Author

Nega Mezlekia is the author of Notes from the Hyena's Belly, winner of the Governor General's Award, and a novel, The God Who Begat a Jackal. He left Ethiopia in 1983 and is now an engineer living in Toronto.

Book Description

Winner of the Governor General's Award
A Library Journal Best Book of 2001

Part autobiography and part social history, Notes from the Hyena's Belly offers an unforgettable portrait of Ethiopia, and of Africa, during the 1970s and '80s, an era of civil war, widespread famine, and mass execution. "We children lived like the donkey," Mezlekia remembers, "careful not to wander off the beaten trail and end up in the hyena's belly." His memoir sheds light not only on the violence and disorder that beset his native country, but on the rich spiritual and cultural life of Ethiopia itself.

Throughout, he portrays the careful divisions in dress, language, and culture between the Muslims and Christians of the Ethiopian landscape. Mezlekia also explores the struggle between western European interests and communist influences that caused the collapse of Ethiopia's social and political structure—and that forced him, at age 18, to join a guerrilla army. Through droughts, floods, imprisonment, and killing sprees at the hands of military juntas, Mezlekia survived, eventually emigrating to Canada. In Notes from the Hyena's Belly he bears witness to a time and place that few Westerners have understood.

Horn of Africa as Common Homeland, The: The State and Self-Determination in the Era of Heightened Globalization
by Leenco Lata

$ 24.99

About The Author

Leenco Lata lived in most of the countries of the Horn of Africa between 1978 and 1993, where he experienced first-hand the resonance of the conflicts in the region. His book, The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads (1999) is often cited as the most comprehensive analysis of why transition to democracy failed in Ethiopia.

Book Description

Contemporary states are generally presumed to be founded on the elements of nation, people, territory, and sovereignty. In the Horn of Africa however, the attempts to find a neat congruence among these elements created more problems than they solved. Leenco Lata demonstrates that conflicts within and between states tend to connect seamlessly in the region. When these conflicts are seen in the context of pressures on the state in an era of heightened globalization, it becomes obvious that the Horn needs to adopt multidimensional self-determination.

In Structuring the Horn of Africa as a Common Homeland, Leenco Lata discusses the history of conflicts within and between Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and the Sudan, and investigates local and global contributory factors. He assesses the effectiveness of the nation-state model to forge a positive relationship between these governments and the people.

Part 1 summarizes the history of self-determination and the state from the French Revolution to the post-Cold War period. Part 2 shows how the states of the Horn of Africa emerged in a highly interactive way, and how these developments continue to reverberate throughout the region, underscoring the necessity of simultaneous regional integration and the decentralization of power as an approach to conflict resolution.

Motivated by a search for practical answers rather than a strict adherence to any particular theory, this significant work by a political activist provides a thorough analysis of the regions complicated and conflicting goals.

Dealing with Conflict in Africa: The United Nations and Regional Organizations
by Jane Boulden

$ 68.40

About The Author

Jane Boulden is a MacArthur Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford.

Book Description

Dealing with Conflict in Africa analyzes the roles of the various organizations involved in conflict resolution in Africa. The first section of the book deals with the overall issues associated with cooperation between regional organizations and the United Nations, as well as how the United Nations has approached this issue in Africa. In the second section, six case studies examine the major conflicts in Africa, such as the Congo War. For each case study, the author looks at what responsibilities and tasks were taken on by different organizations, the relationship between the organizations, and which ones are most effective in working towards successful conflict resolution. The contributors also examine the effectiveness of coalitions or leaders in comparison to the UN and regional organizations. The contributors are an international group of scholars and consultants, all of whom are well positioned to analyze these issues.

Review

This is a very timely book. It examines questions which first arose in Liberia and which have not yet been fully answered: what can regional organizations contribute to the international community's efforts to maintain peace and security? and what should be the division of labour
between them and the United Nations? The book's six revealing case studies are all from Africa. But the conclusions which the authors so lucidly draw from them are of world-wide relevance."--Marrack Goulding

A History of Ethiopia Updated Edition    
by Harold Marcus

$ 14.93

About The Author

Harold G. Marcus (1936-2003) was Professor of History and African Studies at Michigan State University. His books include Haile Sellassie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936 (California, 1986), Ethiopia, Great Britain, and the United States, 1941-1974: The Politics of Empire (California, 1983) and The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1916 (1975).

Book Description

In this eminently readable, concise history of Ethiopia, Harold Marcus surveys the evolution of the oldest African nation from prehistory to the present. For the updated edition, Marcus has written a new preface, two new chapters, and an epilogue, detailing the development and implications of Ethiopia as a Federal state and the war with Eritrea.

Christopher Clapham, International Journal of African Historical Studies
"[T]his is a valuable contribution to Ethiopian historiography, which provides a useful and much-needed overview of current knowledge."

From the Back Cover
"A very ambitious work. . . . Its readability will insure a wide audience. . . . Specialists will be alternately outraged, amused, engaged, and challenged." (James McCann, Boston University)

Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia    
by Paul B. Henz

$ 60.20

About The Author

Paul B. Henze is a former American diplomat who lived and traveled in Ethiopia for almost 40 years.


Book Description

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world. This book traces the country's expansion southward during medieval times, its resistance to Muslim invasion, and, under energetic leaders, its defense of its independence during the European scramble for Africa. The author is concerned not only with kings, princes and politicians but also includes insights on daily life, art, architecture, religion, culture, customs and observations by travelers.

Review

"All in all, this book makes interesting reading, and should suit both scholar and general reader alike..."--International Journal of African Historical Studies

“... this is a timely study of a country still much in the news.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The great merit of Paul Henze's new history of Ethiopia, Layers of Time, is that it makes you dream even as it stays very firmly in the realm of verifiable facts.” —Washington Times