Description
Translated from the German by Kenneth Kirkness
Frau Diel already knew Africa, and her third visit was undertaken with the encouragement, and at the personal request, of Signor Mussolini. The Duce said, “Go and see for yourself what things are like in our new country,” and, in an interview which took place on the eve of the author’s departure for Italian East Africa, he prophesied, “You will find a good deal less ‘Africa* than you expect.”
Louise Diel, who actually was the first woman to visit the new Abyssinia, spent several months touring the country by motor, aeroplane, and special caravan, gaining a wealth of unique experiences, and receiving a multitude of first-hand impressions, which are recorded in this volume. The enthusiasm of the nation, and its determination to make the most of the new colonial opportunity, is the outstanding feature which emerges from these pages. What has been achieved in Italian Ethiopia during the last eighteen months —all circumstances considered—is almost without historic parallel. A new land with modern thoroughfares, railways, bridges, hospitals, towns and aerodromes is being created at fabulous speed. The soil is being made to deliver up its riches and bear fruit.
In addition to describing the experiences of a journey which took her to Asmara, Gondar, Assab, and Addis Ababa, as well as to Gambela, Harar and Mogadiscio, the author reviews the tasks and problems of a political and, especially, of a commercial and industrial nature with which the builders of the New Empire will have to wrestle.
This is a book of considerable actual interest and importance, whose lively descriptions and excellent qualities ©f entertainment should be widely appreciated.
Source : revers de jaquette
