The Emperor

Blurb

The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat, published in 1978, is Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński's analysis of the decline and fall of Haile Selassie's regime in Ethiopia. In 1974, while the Ethiopian Army was still busy consolidating power, Kapuściński "traveled to Ethiopia to seek out and interview Selassie's servants and closest associates on how the Emperor had ruled and why he fell." In large part, the book is a study of the workings of a royal court. It is said that this book is intended to be allegorical of the government of Poland, especially Edward Gierek.