I Didn't Do It for You: Uncovering the Betrayal of a Small African Nation by the Global Community

Amazon Customer: After six months of working from home, relentless video conferences, email trades, 7am to 7pm cycle…..I decided to take a break, download three books for holiday reading and travel away from home. One of them is “I Did not Do It For You”. I enjoyed reading this book the most. Clearly this book is well researched, well written, good flow of stories and educational. It brings the customs, highly intellectual material, insider information, facts from prominent events and street / village sayings together and project it clearly sometimes with humor and at times brutally.
Though the book is written in the context of Eritrea many countries can easily relate to it and touches the hearts of many societies. Through out the time line you can see Eritrea had been used, abused, side-lined, ignored and recipient of a silent treatment for too long hoping it will go unnoticed. What a befitting title too. Nothing that happens about Eritrea inside or outside seems to be not for Eritrea. There is always another benefactor or motive. The British soldier who came up with the phrase said it all.
Many are quick and willing to form and express opinions about Eritrea and similar matters. What...

United Kingdom on Sep 04, 2020

Mehari A Gebremeskel: A 5 star book. A good read. I learned so many things I didn't know about my country. Thank you Michela for your time and effort to learn the unfortunate story of our country and write about it. I highly recommend this book to who ever has questions on how we as a Eritreans end up with a brutal dictator who is the reason for its failure.

United States on Jul 30, 2020

Nehare SM: well researched, well written, engaging even for those of us who have 'lived-experience' of some parts of the history of Eritrea and the resiliency of its people.

Canada on Jun 19, 2016

R. M. Peterson: Michela Wrong opens this book on the -- to Westerners -- negligible country of Eritrea with a marvelous anecdote. She was sitting in Cairo airport's transit lounge near a middle-aged Pakistani who introduced himself as a salesman who traveled Africa and the Middle East looking for possible markets for his multinational company. Wrong, in turn, told him that she was a journalist writing a book about Eritrea, which is where she was headed. He was confused. "You are writing a book about Algeria?" "No. Eritrea." "Nigeria?" "No, Eritrea." "Al-Jazeera?" "No. Eritrea. Small country on the Red Sea. Used to be part of Ethiopia." The Pakistani closed the conversation: "I'm sorry. But I've simply never heard of the place."

The book's title comes from a story, apocryphal one hopes, of a British captain leading his war-weary men into the capital city of Asmara after the battle of Keren, which, although little-known, was among the toughest and most brutal battles of World War II. He was greeted by an old Eritrean woman, enthusiastically ululating in celebration of her country's liberation from Italian Fascist rule. The captain interrupted her high-pitched shrilling with a savage "I...

United States on May 06, 2016

Tesfay Andemeskel: Michaela wrong drückt die Ohnmacht ,die viele wenn nicht sogar die Majorität des Eritreischen Volkes aus.
Das Spiel der Supermächte auf Rücken eines kleines Afrikanischen Volkes .
Haile Selassie hat mal ein wahres Wort während der beschämenden Federation zeit gesagt: "ich brauch das Land Eritrea
Und nicht ihre Bevölkerung ".
Diese menschenverachtende Politik wird bis heute weitergetrieben mit ungebrochene Unterstützung der USA .
Warum?? Es ist in Mode gekommen die Regierung in Eritrea anzuschwärzen ob mit Wahrheitsgehalt oder nicht spielt keine rolle . Beweise für die vorwürfe nicht nötig weil Susan Rice und ihre Mitspieler Sanktionen verhängen möchten um das Land im keim zu Ersticken . Bloß wo waren alle dieser Kritiker der eritreischen Regierung in der zeit von 1952-1991 in den Bittersten stunden des eritreischen Volkes ??

Germany on Jan 17, 2014

CeeBowdisseen: Undoubtedly one of the best or perhaps the best book on Eritrea and her torn identity. The author asks questions about the psychology behind decisions as normal historians do not. They routinely amass facts, but grossly disregard the "human factor" that lead to success or failure. There's not a moment in which I lose interest because of Michela Wrong's personal dedication and refusal to be served off with easy answers.
Oh and what fine language, full of savvy and congeniality! Seldom have I bother to underline so many sentences in a book (yep I still read them!). I am extremely happy to have stumbled across this book and only deplore the fact this book has not yet been published in many other languages.

Germany on Sep 19, 2013

George Mason: A fantastic book written from the inside of the Eritrean Civil war. The author outlines what was quite possibly the most unique rebellion in African history. She does a masterful job of portraying the initial years of the EPLF and their ability to mobilize the populace and utilize the safe havens available to support their efforts. The contrast between Mengistu's governance and that of the EPLF in the initial years is stark and telling. The sad part of the book is the decline of inclusive governance and ultimate strong man rule by Afwerki. Although the title speaks of "how the world betrayed a small African nation," it might well have been: "How a revolution betrayed itself. It would be a true seminal work if Ms. Wrong did a follow on book or an updated version covering the period from 2005 to the present. I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (P.S.)

United States on Aug 09, 2012

John: I have read all of Michela Wrong's books. All are well-written with an enjoyable style. All give in-depth information about countries that don't get much attention in international newspapers.

The last century of history of the nation of Eritrea and city of Asmara, as captured in "I Didn't Do It for You," is fascinating. I gained good understanding of Italian, British, American, and Russian involvement in Eritrea and concluded that Italian involvement was mostly positive and Russian involvement was entirely negative. The bungled work of the United Nations was interesting to read about, as were the stories of the lunatic king "The Lion of Judah."

If I can be bold and state one criticism: Authors (including, to some degree, Wrong) writing about troubles in Africa usually write the story such that the ordinary Africans are bright and honest people and their problems are caused by European involvement. Europeans might have hurt more than they have helped over the years, however I suspect that most people in Eritrea are not particularly bright and honest and this explains much of their trouble.

John Christmas, author of "Democracy Society"

United States on Nov 21, 2011

James W. Derry: I do not know where to begin to praise this important book.
The author, Michela Wrong, is a British writer who is passionate about Africa. She has spent a decade traveling around the continent and has written extensively about it for Reuters and the BBC. Absolutely, she knows her stuff and keeps the reader astonished with what she has learned.
Ms Wrong's book is about the sad little country of Eritrea, the Biblical land of the Queen of Sheba. But it is also about the utter failure and betrayal of the United Nations to keep its promises to this country that was forced to wage so many destructive wars to keep its independence.
Before the United Nation's miserable failures in Sudan, Dafur, Rwanda, Serbia, etc, there was its model disaster in Eritrea. And before the UN, there was Italy and its colonies in east Africa of which Eritrea, now regarded as a basket case, was once the most modern on the continent. Defeated at the end of World War II, Italy also lost its small colonial empire. The victor, Great Britain, picked Eritrea clean and sold off its factories and infastructure for scrap, leaving its people destitute with nothing to build a real country on. Shortly thereafter,...

Canada on Nov 30, 2007

Shaun M. Overton: I read this book after travelling to Eritrea less than a year ago. I wish I would have read it before going. It went a long way towards explaining the Eritreans' reserved character and the abundant desolation of its countryside through the history of the powers involved.

I give the book 5 stars. It's not 100% perfect, but the information within it is first rate. Wrong effectively sets the context for all the parties involved from their own perspectives. The reader understands throughout what each player is thinking and how these actions impact the Eritrean psyche.

My nit-picky complaint is I wish Wrong would have placed more narrative emphasis on the Eritrean side of things. Eritrean narrative appears on occasion, particularly with the pharmeceutical director and the gourmet chef from the trenches. It is the exception rather than the rule. She discusses in depth Eritrea's first colonial administrator, a WWII battle, an American base, Ethiopian history, the Soviet Union and the roles each respective country played in shaping Eritrea. Anecdotes from the Eritrean side, however, are compartively limited.

Also, the end of the book, the section which discusses the...

United States on Nov 28, 2005