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I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation | 
 enlarge | Author: Michela Wrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 438516
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0060780924
Dewey Decimal Number: 963.507
EAN: 9780060780920
ASIN: 0060780924
Publication Date: June 1, 2005
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Heart of a Tormented Continent June 17, 2005
David Fick (Overland Park, Kansas USA)
13 out of 32 found this review helpful
Heart of a Tormented Continent
By MARTIN HUTCHINSON,
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL,
June 17, 2005; Page W6
Mr. Hutchinson is the author of "Great Conservatives" (Academica Press).
Eritrea, a small country on the Horn of Africa with a coastline along the Red Sea, has been in the news fitfully in recent years. For three decades it fought for independence from Ethiopia before gaining it in 1991; then it fought a border war with Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000. Ms. Wrong blames the woes of Eritrea primarily on the misdeeds of its Italian (1890-1941) and British (1941-52) colonizers.
It is true that the colonial legacy is mixed at best. The Italians saw Eritrea as a future home for their expatriates, split it from Ethiopia for a time and built a solid infrastructure. The British captured Eritrea early in World War II, steered it back into Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's un-tender grasp and removed much of the Italian infrastructure as the spoils of war.
A Sink of Corruption
Thus there was a certain inevitability to Eritrea's war of independence against Selassie and his Marxist successor, Mengistu Haile Mariam. But the war devastated the economy and eventually produced an Eritrean governing class of self-described freedom fighters inspired by Che Guevara. Ms. Wrong is up front in her admiration for them, and they may indeed have had noble intentions, but they lacked the skills and outlook to run a modern economy, producing economic growth only in the 1990s when Western aid first flooded in. Today the country is a sink of corruption and lawlessness, with little hope of economic revival.
Certainly the colonial interlude played a part in Eritrea's current fate, but the origins of its problems -- not least that of Ethiopia's threatened dominance -- reach back well before European intervention. For centuries, the Eritrean coast served as a major entrepot for the slave trade, producing a largely Muslim people at odds with the Coptic Christian governing class. As for Ethiopia's desire for Eritrea, it derives as much from Ethiopia's lack of a coastline as from a desire to impose its will, and religion, on its neighbor. Ms. Wrong might have devoted more space to the region's long precolonial history before judging the effects of European transgressions.
Copyright 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 What She Left Out August 7, 2005
Richard Cummings (Bridgehampton, NY)
10 out of 22 found this review helpful
Ms.Wrong, who lives in London, would not have had a hard time getting in touch with someone like Tesfatsion Medhane, the leading scholar of Eritrea who teaches at the University of Bremen, but she chose not to. That is an astonishing omission. Nowhere is his work even mentioned. One wishes to know how she can justify this.
When America blindly supported Haile Selassie, the autocratic ruler of Ethiopia, it opposed the Eritrean secessionist movement and labeled the ELF "Marxist" and pro-Soviet. But when America's secret war to save the emperor failed and he fell from power, replaced by a revolutionary council, America switched sides, opposing Ethiopia and supporting Eritrean secession. The C.I.A. backed the EPLF to replace the ELF, so it could control events. Then "To Asmara" by Thomas Kenneally appeared, glorifying the Eritrean rebels. At this time, the C.I.A. suppressed other books on Ethiopia because it feared the secret war might be revealed. With the fall of Nixon, everything collapsed. In the end, a ruthless, pro-Soviet regime took over in Addis Ababa, and the EPLF, with the backing of the C.I.A. took over in Asmara. As it turned out, the C.I.A.-backed EPLF turned out to be even more Marxist-Leninist than the ELF, so now we have Ms. Wrong's book to remind the world how Eritrea was betrayed. By whom? The EPLF betrayed Eritrea, with the help of the C.I.A., which, once again, got it wrong, no pun intended. Now, the Horn of Africa is important again after the end of the Cold War, when it was totally forgotten, because of terrorism and the large Moslem population. How convenient to now have this book to remind us of this little country that was forgotten. Richard Cummings, Chairman, Journal of Ethiopian Law, visiting professor of international law, Haile Sellassie I University, 1967-69
Excellent background November 28, 2005
Shaun M. Overton (Colleyville, TX)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
I read this book after travelling to Eritrea less than a year ago. I wish I would have read it before going. It went a long way towards explaining the Eritreans' reserved character and the abundant desolation of its countryside through the history of the powers involved.
I give the book 5 stars. It's not 100% perfect, but the information within it is first rate. Wrong effectively sets the context for all the parties involved from their own perspectives. The reader understands throughout what each player is thinking and how these actions impact the Eritrean psyche.
My nit-picky complaint is I wish Wrong would have placed more narrative emphasis on the Eritrean side of things. Eritrean narrative appears on occasion, particularly with the pharmeceutical director and the gourmet chef from the trenches. It is the exception rather than the rule. She discusses in depth Eritrea's first colonial administrator, a WWII battle, an American base, Ethiopian history, the Soviet Union and the roles each respective country played in shaping Eritrea. Anecdotes from the Eritrean side, however, are compartively limited.
Also, the end of the book, the section which discusses the latest war and Eritrea's current political climate, felt hurried.
Overall, this is an excellent background read for anyone hoping to learn more about Eritrea and its wars. It has a few very minor shortcomings, but the book completely achieves its goal of introducing the reader to Eritrean history.
 'unconscious racism' or neo-colonialism? June 21, 2005
Gual Ertra (Boston, MA USA)
9 out of 34 found this review helpful
This author is talented but rather ill-informed about the ethics of writing. She objectifies Eritrea and its people; uses discredited sources to belittle the leadership; glorifies her achievement in pulling it off and just generally shoots herself in the foot. What a pity. To succeed, this author could have done one of two things:
1. Just deal with the colonial atrocities, proxy war/cold war and western governments' denials etc;
2. Bring in the Eritreans with diverse opinions, views and experiences of the independence struggle - however sketchily, and with humility.
Next time - perhaps.
Well written book July 9, 2005
Tesfamariam Michael (Texas)
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
I enjoyed and learnt a lot from reading this book. The book is well researched and well written. She covered topics which give very clear historical picture of Eritrea and the Eritrean revolution for independece.
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