Book Review

Abstract

The author of the book is a historian based at St. Joseph’s University in the United States of America. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the political history of the formation of modern Ethiopia between 1855 and 1913, emphasizing the role of the Oromo in the former provinces of Wällo and Shäwa. He has also a couple of publications on the political history of modern Ethiopia. The current book can be viewed as a culmination of the previous works, along with fieldwork data gathered in Ethiopia. The work thematically narrates the contributions of Wällo and Shäwan Oromo society towards the formation of modern Ethiopia between the years 1855 and 1913. The author claims that despite wide-ranging contributions, the Oromo of these areas have not been properly included in the macro-historical narrations of northern Ethiopia.