James De Lorenzi is associate professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He is the author of Guardians of the Tradition: Historians and Historical Writing in Ethiopia and Eritrea (2015) and coauthor of The Many Lives of Täsfa Ṣeyon: An Ethiopian Intellectual in Early Modern Rome (2024).

This brilliant book is at once an intellectual history of Italian Orientalism in Ethiopian studies and a critical biography of Enrico Cerulli. It contains stunning revelations of his fascist connections and his odious role in the suppression of the Patriotic Movement. A must-read.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Feasts of History1. The Power of Tradition2. Mysterious Magic3. Reading Philology in Addis AbabaPart II: Imperial Andromeda4. Ferragosto5. Mäskäräm6. “Cerulli and His Ilk”Part III: Years of Hardship7. The Chronicler of Asinara8. Survival in Shäwa9. Bath and DhanaanePart IV: Dead Reckoning10. Case 788711. Field OperationsConclusionGlossaryTransliteration and DatesList of AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex

James De Lorenzi is associate professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He is the author of Guardians of the Tradition: Historians and Historical Writing in Ethiopia and Eritrea (2015) and coauthor of The Many Lives of Täsfa Ṣeyon: An Ethiopian Intellectual in Early Modern Rome (2024).

This brilliant book is at once an intellectual history of Italian Orientalism in Ethiopian studies and a critical biography of Enrico Cerulli. It contains stunning revelations of his fascist connections and his odious role in the suppression of the Patriotic Movement. A must-read.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Feasts of History1. The Power of Tradition2. Mysterious Magic3. Reading Philology in Addis AbabaPart II: Imperial Andromeda4. Ferragosto5. Mäskäräm6. “Cerulli and His Ilk”Part III: Years of Hardship7. The Chronicler of Asinara8. Survival in Shäwa9. Bath and DhanaanePart IV: Dead Reckoning10. Case 788711. Field OperationsConclusionGlossaryTransliteration and DatesList of AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex