Ethiopia: Land of the Lotus Eaters
Providing a definitive explanation of modern history in Ethiopia, this book covers the last century up until 1994. It attempts to explain for the hundreds of thousands Ethiopians who emigrated to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe what happened in Ethiopia after the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassi. The changes that have taken place in Ethiopia over the past century are described, and a range of issues of historical importance as well as issues still important in Ethiopia today--the flora and fauna, the wildlife, and customs of Ethiopia now and in the past--are examined in great detail.

Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia by Jan Engels, ISBN 0521384567
One of the world centers of crop evolution and origin, Ethiopia has long been recognized as an important area of diversity for several major and various minor crops. Based on an international conference held in Addis Ababa, this book describes how plant genetic diversity in Ethiopia is of vital importance in breeding new varieties of crops with desirable characteristics, such as increased resistance to pests and diseases and greater adaptation to heat and drought. The three main sections in the book consider the Ethiopian center of diversity, germ plasm or genetic material collection and conservation in Ethiopia, and the evaluation and utilization of Ethiopian genetic resources. A broad range of food and feed crops and plants of medicinal and industrial importance are discussed, both at a national and international level. A brief account of conservation strategies and gene bank problems unique to Ethiopia is also given. The importance of Ethiopia's plant genetic resources to world agriculture has been demonstrated on more than one occasion. Plant breeders, geneticists, and botanists throughout the world will, therefore, find this unique book a valuable source of information and an essential reference work.

Survival and Modernization: Ethiopia's Enigamtic Present by Messay Kebede, ISBN 1569020841
The book tackles the enigmatic question on Ethiopia's failure to modernize. The enigma springs from the absence in Ethiopia of the major deficiencies invoked to explain underdevelopment. Indeed, Ethiopia, a country with a long history of survival and independence, defined by a form of pristine Christianity colored with African traits, remains an enigma. With an imperial system based on conflict as well as the connivance between centripetal and centrifugal forces, a land-holding system supporting fluid yet stratified social classes, a cultural life combining a written tradition with folk thinking, nationalism with ethnicity and, what is more, a country which successfully resisted all the major invading forces of history, including colonialism to the point that it was compared to Japan, Ethiopia had all the necessary prerequisites for a successful transition to modernity. By combining sociological and political analyses with philosophical inquiries, the book attempts to explain how Ethiopia was driven into a wrong track through various historical detours delays, indecisions, and uprootednees.