An admirable and surprising work, based on very original and thorough research...rich and thought-provoking.
Jon Abbink Leiden University
HISTORY OF HUMANITIES
De Lorenzi has unearthed the hitherto unstudied works of important figures in the tiny literary space of the Horn of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. His work is a unique contribution to Ethiopian ... Read morehistoriography in particular and African historiography in general.
Alemseged Abbay Frostburg State University
AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW
The century-long study of Ethio-Eritrean tradition has never been crowned with such an objective, scientific definition as in Guardians of the Tradition . . . [It] shows remarkable insight into a complicated and sensitive problem at the very basis of Ethio-Eritrean studies, for which contribution scholars will be grateful.
Bairu Tafla University of Hamburg
JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY
'De Lorenzi has produced a book of admirable scholarship; it combines exhaustive archival research, attentiveness to the local and international contexts and currents, lively personal biography and historical theory.
Alex de Waal Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation
AFRICA AT LSE BLOG
A crucial reference work for Ethiopian intellectual history . . . Guardians of the Tradition is argued clearly and convincingly, with evidence inferred from a wide array of primary sources. [A]n engaging and informative read.
Fikru Gebrekidan St. Thomas University
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES
The creativity and richness of Ethiopian historical writing forcefully challenge the argument that historiography is a product of Western modernity and a Western export
a point rather obvious for Africanists, but not so obvious in the field of history at large, which De Lorenzi attacks for its 'parochialism' and 'latent Eurocentrism.
Sara Marzagora School of Oriental and African Studies
AFRICA
Insightful, painstakingly researched, and innovative in its selection and sensitive to changing regional and international contexts . . . [De Lorenzi] has opened up new vistas to readers of the concerns, conventions, and analytical categories of public intellectuals who combined traditional and modern concepts in the construction of Ethiopian historiography. Ruth Iyob, University of Missouri, St. Louis
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De Lorenzi is a remarkable scholar . . . This topic . . . is rarely treated in such a sweeping geographical-historical framework . . . An ongoing debate, a stimulating topic. (Irma Taddia, Università di Bologna)
AETHIOPICA
A major milestone in the growing field of Ethiopian intellectual history . . . This is one of the most important books written to date on the development of historical writing in Africa in the early twentieth century.
Jacob Wiebel Durham University
ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW
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