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A review by komet2020
Money, Blood & Conscience by David Steinman
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
MONEY, BLOOD & CONSCIENCE is a novel in which a successful TV producer in Los Angeles (Buddy Schwartz) is moved to help provide famine relief to Ethiopia during the mid-1980s after watching a late night TV commercial for Ethiopian famine relief. This undertaking comes to be the chief mission of Buddy's life over the next 30 years as Ethiopia shakes off one oppressive government only to see the succeeding government (under Meles Zenawi, a former freedom fighter from Ethiopia's Tigray Region) apply its own oppressive measures against Ethiopia's non-Tigrayan tribes whilst presenting a democratic façade to the rest of the world.
Ethiopia comes to occupy center stage in this novel. There is also a love story that develops in the novel between Schwartz and a young Ethiopian woman freedom fighter to whom he was introduced during one of his visits to the country in the 1980s.
Much of what David Steinman has written comes out of his own experience as a senior foreign advisor to Ethiopia's democracy movement. Some of the characters in "Money, Blood & Conscience" are taken from real-life personages, such as Meles Zenawi, who was Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2012. Prior to that, Zenawi had been President from 1991 to 1995.
Steinman deftly combines fiction with historical reality in this novel, which is why I rate it at 3-and-a-half stars. For anyone wanting to better understand Ethiopia and its history over the last 37 years, read "Money, Blood & Conscience."
Ethiopia comes to occupy center stage in this novel. There is also a love story that develops in the novel between Schwartz and a young Ethiopian woman freedom fighter to whom he was introduced during one of his visits to the country in the 1980s.
Much of what David Steinman has written comes out of his own experience as a senior foreign advisor to Ethiopia's democracy movement. Some of the characters in "Money, Blood & Conscience" are taken from real-life personages, such as Meles Zenawi, who was Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2012. Prior to that, Zenawi had been President from 1991 to 1995.
Steinman deftly combines fiction with historical reality in this novel, which is why I rate it at 3-and-a-half stars. For anyone wanting to better understand Ethiopia and its history over the last 37 years, read "Money, Blood & Conscience."