THE EMPEROR: DOWNFALL OF AN AUTOCRAT

New York City, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 164 pages. The author's first book to be translated into English. One of the greatest books of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Ryszard Kapuscinski's "The Emperor" in a felicitous English translation. The Fall of an absolute monarch. As The Last Emperor of the Solomonic Dynasty whose lineage goes all the way back to Biblical times, Emperor Haile Selassi remains, even after the humiliation of being arrested, tortured, and eventually killed, a divine figure to this day, worshipped as God Incarnate ("The Messiah") by the Jamaican/Rastafarian faith. The latter's most famous disciple, Bob Marley, was incidentally himself the greatest Jamaican figure of the 20th century, autocratic in his own way. "Transcends reportage, becoming a nightmare of power" (Salman Rushdie). Kapuscinski is not a journalist in the Anglo-American sense. He writes what his admirers worldwide have described as literary journalism, which is not to be confused with the American New Journalism (of writers like Tom Wolfe) because his methods, subject, and tragic worldview are the exact opposite. He deploys his literary mastery to document the rise, decline, and collapse of authoritarian regimes around the world - only to be replaced, in the case of Ethiopia, ironically and tragically, by an even more ruthless, totalitarian dictatorship: Among other crimes, the diabolical Marxist regime of Mengistu Mariam committed genocide against his own people. Prompting comparison with Kafka, Kapuscinski's literary journalism is unique in that none of his accounts has an ending in the conventional sense: His narratives simply end, inconclusively and abruptly, on an unresolved, often jarring note. Which is something that writers of TIME Magazine or The New York Times would never do, neatly wrapping things up instead for the sake of an artificially satisfying story. An absolute "must-have" title for Ryszard Kapuscinski collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. HBJ identified true firsts at the time with the statement ("First Edition") followed by a letter line that begins with the letter B. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest journalist-writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0151287716.