With scholars far from agreement in their opinions of Ethiopia's Haile Selassie, the questions remain: Who was Haile Selassie? What was the secret of his survival across half a century—and how did he come to be a virtual exile in his own country, then murdered, the last emperor in a centuries-old dynasty?

Haggai Erlich's Haile Selassie, full of fresh perspectives and insights, adds much to our understanding of the emperor. Drawing on new archival sources, as well as decades of research on Ethiopia, Erlich tells the multifaceted, sometimes tragic, story not only of a single individual, but also of modern Ethiopia both domestically and in world affairs.

Haggai Erlich is professor emeritus of Middle East and African history at Tel Aviv University. His numerous publications on Ethiopia include Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia: Islam, Christianity, and Politics Entwined and The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile.