Anyone interested in the history of Eritrea Ethiopia or Italian and British Imperialism will
learn much from this book. It gives the full texts of the treasure-house of unpublished
documents on which the same author's Lords of the Red Sea was based. These documents were
produced at the end of the 19th century by the Italian administrators in Eritrea who dealt with
the local nomads. These young officers became intrigued by the society and history of the
highly developed Habab tribe even as they became part of that history replacing loose
hegemony with direct sovereignty. Their records document not only their own important role in
the Scramble for Africa but also the whole culture and historical memory of a fascinating
society.
