Novel Portrays 'Crime of the Century'
Depicts Secret Mass Murders by Former Ethiopian Dictatorship
Washington: A novel about Ethiopia's democracy movement has ignited a firestorm of controversy on two continents. Titled Money, Blood and Conscience, it tells the story of an American television producer's love affair with an Ethiopian guerrilla fighter during the recently deposed Meles Zenawi dictatorship.
"It's a political thriller and a dark romance, but I hope it also educates Westerners about Ethiopia's struggle for freedom," the author, David Steinman, said.
Mr. Steinman is an international revolutionary who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his behind-the-scenes role in toppling the Meles regime. Steinman was instrumental in ending its foreign support, exposed its corruption and mass murder in western media and co-planned the 2004-2005 "Kinijit" civil resistance and election campaign which began its decline.
The hard-hitting critique of the international community's support for Meles combines investigative journalism and fiction to describe a repressive, African surveillance state sometimes likened to East Germany under the much-feared Stasi secret police. Within minutes of the book's release, Ethiopians in homes and cafes across their country and large diaspora began speculating just how much of its account of their notorious, former leader's mysterious 2012 death is factual.
Money, Blood and Conscience is the latest addition to the "dictator novel" genre which began as a category of Latin American literature challenging authoritarianism but increasingly includes African works. The novel is currently available on Kindle. Paperback and hardcover editions will be released this December on Amazon.com.
