- Reading guide
- Books that'll help build up relevant critical skills:
- Comprehensive books which thoroughly explain the historical and political background behind the genocidal war against Tigray:
- Books covering aspects of the Tigray genocide:
- Core books in chronological order:
- Supplementary books in chronological order:
- Books that need to be read together in order to firmly grasp the history of the TPLF:
- Publications made by the TPLF during the Second Woyane Rebellion:
- Resources that need to be read, compared and contrasted in order to understand the relationship between Tigrinya speakers:
- Books on learning Tigrinya:
- Books that study the language Tigrinya:
- Books that look into Tigray's unique connection to the Axum kingdom and its role as the seedbed society in Ethiopia:
- Supplementary books with a few issues:
- Fiction books with important lessons:
- Nonfiction books with important lessons:
- Books covering genocides and crimes against humanity that took place in other parts of the world:
- Thorough reports on the Tigray genocide:
- Articles that cover aspects of the Tigray genocide written by academics:
- The Pretoria agreement:
- Resources covering Western Tigray:
- The Ethiopian constitution:
- More resources can be found here:
Reading guide
For anyone interested in just reading one or two books on Tigray, we recommend that you read through those listed as the comprehensive books. You can also find many reports and articles scattered toward the end of this reading list. Following this, we strongly recommend that you read the books listed as core books and then to read a book on whatever topic interests you but make sure to always compare the book's content to those of the "core books" especially when it comes to the books listed as having issues. The reason why the core books are labelled as such is that they stand out when it comes to the sources used, how much is covered, reliability, etc. and this is not to say that the other books are not good but that those listed as core books should be seen as benchmarks to compare them against. Furthermore, the core books provide a solid foundation for further reading.
Books that'll help build up relevant critical skills:
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. (Free Sample) (Here's a video and channel that draws a lot from the book)
Comprehensive books which thoroughly explain the historical and political background behind the genocidal war against Tigray:
Understanding Ethiopia's Tigray War by Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
War On Tigray: Genocidal Axis in the Horn of Africa by Daniel Berhane. (Free sample)
Books covering aspects of the Tigray genocide:
PRIMED FOR DEATH: Tigray Genocide: A Survivor's Story by Goitom Mekonen Gebrewahid. (Free sample)
In Plain Sight: Sexual violence in the Tigray conflict by Rita Kahsay, Rowena Kahsay and Sally Keeble. (Free sample)
TEARING THE BODY, BREAKING THE SPIRIT: Women And Girls’ Rape Stories From The Tigray Genocidal War by Birhan Gebrekirstos and Mulu Mesfin. (Free sample)
Core books in chronological order:
Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity by Stuart Munro Hay.
The Ethiopians: A History by Richard Pankhurst. (Free sample)
Yohannes IV of Ethiopia: A Political Biography by Zewde Gebre-Sellassie. (A review)
Laying the Past to Rest: The EPRDF and the Challenges of Ethiopian State-Building by Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
Understanding Ethiopia's Tigray War by Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
Supplementary books in chronological order:
Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa by George Hatke.
Untersuchungen zum äthiopischen Königtum by Eike Haberland/English translated excerpts linked
The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century by Richard Pankhurst.
Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World, 1095-1402 by Adam Simmons. (Free sample)
Deqiqa Estifanos: Behigg Amlak by Getachew Haile.
The Ge'ez Acts of Abba Estifanos of Gwendagwende by Getachew Haile.
The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities by Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat.
Ras Alula and the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography: Ethiopia & Eritrea, 1875-1897 by Haggai Erlich. (Free Sample)
The campaign of Shewa in Tigray by Fisseha Abiye Ezgi. Here's an excerpt. Here's a translation in English. (2)
The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat by Ryszard Kapuscinski. (Free Sample)
Ethiopia in Theory: Revolution and Knowledge Production, 1964-2016 by Elleni Zeleke. (Free Sample)
Sweeter than honey: Testimonies of Tigrayan women by Jenny Hammond. (A review)
Jamaica, a Memoir by Yemane Kidane Messele. (A review) (The official reviews)
War On Tigray: Genocidal Axis in the Horn of Africa by Daniel Berhane. (Free Sample)
The Abiy Project: God, Power and War in the New Ethiopia by Tom Gardner. (Free Sample)
Eritrea's Gold Rush: Western Mining Companies, Regional Wars, and Human Rights Abuses in Africa by Charlotte Touati. (Free Sample)
Books that need to be read together in order to firmly grasp the history of the TPLF:
Laying the Past to Rest: The EPRDF and the Challenges of Ethiopian State-Building by Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
Sweeter than honey: Testimonies of Tigrayan women by Jenny Hammond. (A review)
Jamaica, a Memoir by Yemane Kidane Messele. (A review) (The official reviews)
Publications made by the TPLF during the Second Woyane Rebellion:
People's Democratic Programme - Adopted by the Second Organizational Congress of the TPLF - May 1983
People's Voice, Vol. 12, Nos. 1-2, January-June 1990
Resources that need to be read, compared and contrasted in order to understand the relationship between Tigrinya speakers:
Identity Jilted, Or, Re-imagining Identity?: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles by Alemseged Abbay.
Yohannes IV of Ethiopia: A Political Biography by Zewde Gebre-Sellassie. (A review)
Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa.
'NOT WITH THEM, NOT WITHOUT THEM': THE STAGGERING OF ERITREA TO NATIONHOOD by Alemseged Abbay.
Understanding Ethiopia's Tigray War by Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
Aspects of Tigrinya literature (until 1974) by Hailu Habtu.
Laying the Past to Rest: The EPRDF and the Challenges of Ethiopian State-Building by Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe. (Free sample) (The official reviews)
Jamaica, a Memoir by Yemane Kidane Messele. (A review) (The official reviews)
Why Eritrea committed genocide in Tigray
Books on learning Tigrinya:
Tigrinya Language Workbook: Learn to read and write in Tigrinya by Benyam Solomon.
The Essential Guide to Tigrinya: The Language of Eritrea and Tigray Ethiopia by Abraham Teklu and Andrew Tadross.
Tigrinya Reader And Grammar by Mulugetta Girmay Melles.
Tigrinya grammar by John Mason.
Mesob English - Tigrinya Dictionary: Mesob English - Tigrinya Dictionary by Mr. Amanuel Woldemichael Asfeha.
Books that study the language Tigrinya:
Ethiopian Semitic: studies in classification by Robert Hetzron.
Books that look into Tigray's unique connection to the Axum kingdom and its role as the seedbed society in Ethiopia:
Untersuchungen zum äthiopischen Königtum by Eike Haberland/English translated excerpts linked
Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society by Donald N. Levine. The chapter on Tigray's unique connection to Axum and its role as the seedbed society is excellent but beware of the pro-Ethiopia bias shown throughout the book.
Aspects of Tigrinya literature (until 1974) by Hailu Habtu.
Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopian Semitic: studies in classification by Robert Hetzron.
Identity Jilted, Or, Re-imagining Identity?: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles by Alemseged Abbay.
Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years 1520-1527 by Francisco Álvares.
Books researching the impact on Tigray with authors being multiple as a result of collaboration between many universities inside and outside Tigray:
Three Volumes of Books on Tigray War Published in Advance of Commemoration
Supplementary books with a few issues:
Greater Tigray and the Mysterious Magnetism of Ethiopia by Haggai Erlich. The middle chapters (approximately 6-9 and covering the early 20th century period up to the first woyane) were great as was chapter 13 (covering Meles and the GERD). The rest of the book is mediocre and this book can be dangerous as an introductory since it has many flaws in certain areas (through the lack of context, etc.) which means it can only serve properly as a supplementary.
Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society by Donald N. Levine. This book correctly acknowledges Tigray's role as a "seedbed society" through being the direct descendants of the Axumites but at the same time, it does have significant bias toward Ethiopia that needs to be kept in mind.
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat. This book has a lot of interesting information but at the same time it is plagued with outdated and biased, information, theories and analysis.
Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia: The Tigray People's Liberation Front, 1975–1991 by John Young. There isn't any issue with the book in and of itself but it is an unnecessary read if you've read Laying the Past to Rest, which is the superior book (they practically cover the same topic) overall in terms of detail, insider knowledge and readability. Laying the Past to Rest also covers a slightly longer time period since Peasant Revolution was published right before the border war (as opposed to early 2020 like Laying the Past to Rest) while Laying the past to rest covers this important period quite well in addition to everything up to that period.
A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975-1991): Revolt, Ideology, and Mobilisation in Ethiopia by Aregawi Berhe. This book is extremely problematic and this is due to the author who has an extreme bias which was made absolutely clear through their support of the Tigray genocide but even before this they worked hard to try and smear the TPLF (1)(2). The author used to be one of the founding leaders of the TPLF but he was demoted from his position and resented both this demotion and the meritocratic reformation that led to his demotion in the first place. There may be some use to reading this but it's a book that should be read only after books like Laying the Past to Rest which are much more credible. You can read more on the mid 1980s meritocratic reformation from page 116 onwards in Laying the past to rest.
The Violence of Téwodros by Donald Crummey. As the title suggests, this looks primarily into the excessive violence and atrocities committed by Tewedros the second which is extensively written about in other books but has long been forgotten in favor of romanticizing him. The only issue with this article is the clear bias toward a centralized Ethiopia among other biases.
Empress Taytu and Menilek II: Ethiopia 1883-1910 by Chris Prouty. An excerpt from this book is included in this article. This book contains Taytu's harsh criticism toward Menelik over selling lands to Italy unlike Yohannes IV who defended the country until his death. The book has good reviews from some of the most well respected historians specializing in Ethiopia like Zewde Gebre-Selassie and Richard Pankhurst but there's a chance it may depict Menelik in a romanticized white washed light and until this is confirmed, the book will remain in this section of the book list.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahido Church by Ephraim Isaac. A page on it that features a review from Richard Pankhurst. This book covers the history of the EOTC and has a good review from Richard Pankhurst. However, until it's reviewed and confirmed to not have the many misconceptions surrounding the legacy of the Axum Kingdom and other key areas of history, this book will remain in this section of the book list.
Aksum In Muslim Historical Traditions by Hussein Ahmed. As the title suggests, this article looks into Axum from the perspective of Muslim writers and of course focuses primarily on the First Hijrah. There are only three minor issues, the first is that Axum (the city) is written about as if it was without a doubt the capital at the time while not mentioning that scholars that specialized in Axum, like Stuart Munro Hay, believe that Axum was likely abandoned as the capital by the time of the First Hijrah. The second is that there's a minor bias from the author when it comes to the belief that the King of the time had converted to Islam and the arguments against that but he does however still include those arguments in his article just not in the most neutral way possible. The third issue is that "Habesha or Al-Habash" is translated as "Ethiopian" in English while the use of that term internally only came much later in the 13th century after the fall of Axum and even later than that for foreign powers to use that term in reference to both Axum and the two powers that succeeded it. More can be read about this in Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World, 1095-1402 by Adam Simmons. (Free sample)
Fiction books with important lessons:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. A quote from this book, "the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history."
Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Nonfiction books with important lessons:
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. Here's an article by a reputable Tigrayan academic that analyzes Tigray's situation through Fanon's writings.
The Roots of Evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence by Ervin Staub.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Kleene.
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins.
The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. (Here's a video that looks into some of the ideas from the book)
Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti.
Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity by Liah Greenfeld.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt.
Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing by James Waller.
Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse by Partha Chatterjee.
The Rhetoric of Genocide: Death as a text by Ben Voth.
National Identity by Anthony D. Smith.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.
Nations and Nationalism by Ernest Gellner.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson.
Books covering genocides and crimes against humanity that took place in other parts of the world:
Shake Hands with the Devil by Roméo Dallaire.
A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide by Linda Melvern.
Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide by Linda Melvern.
Intent to Deceive: Denying the Genocide of the Tutsi by Linda Melvern.
Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica by David Rohde.
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi.
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe.
The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees.
An Inconvenient Genocide: Who Now Remembers the Armenians? by Robertson Geoffrey.
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch.
Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era by J.J. Carney.
Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Edited by Alexandra Stiglmayer.
Surviving the Bosnian Genocide: The Women of Srebrenica Speak by Selma Leydesdorff.
Postcards from the Grave by Emir Suljagić.
Surviving Srebrenica by Hasan Hasanović.
Thorough reports on the Tigray genocide:
Power and Plunder: The Eritrean Defense Forces Intervention in Tigray by The Sentry.
Volume 1 of Ts’inta by the Commission of Inquiry on the Tigray Genocide.
Volume 2 of Ts'inta by the Commission of Inquiry on the Tigray Genocide.
Articles that cover aspects of the Tigray genocide written by academics:
The Pretoria agreement:
Part 1 (Signed on 2nd November 2022)
Part 2 (Signed on 12th November 2022)
The AU confirming in 2023 that 85% of heavy weapons had been surrendered by the TDF which according to part 2 of the pretoria agreement should've meant that at least 85% of Western Tigray should've been vacated by the occupying forces (1)
Resources covering Western Tigray:
Genocide in Tigray: Serious breaches of international law in the Tigray conflict, Ethiopia, and paths to accountability by New Lines Institute. (Aljazeera also covered this report here)
Ethiopia war: Evidence of mass killing being burned by BBC News.
Western Tigray in 165 historical and 33 ethno-linguistic maps 1475-2014.
List of place names in Welkait, Tigray, Ethiopia, as recorded in 1939.
Under Ethiopia’s federal system, Western Tigray belongs in Tigray.
Amhara nationalist claims over Western Tigray are a smokescreen for ethnic cleansing.
Change Western Tigray’s Demography, Abiy Ahmed to Amharas.
Western Tigray: A Tigrayan Territory Since Antiquity.
The disputed maps of Western Tigray – a challenge for Professors Shiferaw and Dagnachew.
The Ethiopian constitution:
The 1995 Ethiopian constitution (Written in 1994 and implemented in 1995)