The Emperor

In The Emperor (which will be published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich this winter and from which we here reprint several excerpts), Ryszard Kapuscinski recounts the career of Haile Selassie from the primitive barbarism of his early years on the throne to the limousine-equipped barbarism of his late years, both resting on the misery of the Ethiopian people. The author sometimes speaks in his own voice (as in the first excerpt below); more often, though, he simply records the words of those he interviewed—the courtiers and menials(whose narratives are introduced by initials) recounting palace intrigue and court life under His Venerable Majesty, His Distinguished Majesty, His Magnanimous Majesty, His Benevolent Majesty. By turns funny, lud...