Against All Odds

Against All Odds is a first-hand account of Eritrea''s 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, which it won in 1991 with little outside support after defeating successive U.S.- and Soviet-backed regimes and overcoming drought and famine while working to unify and reform the society from which it derived its strength. A 1997 afterword captures the optimism generated by these achievements. But a new reappraisal recounts its slide into despotism after renewed conflict with Ethiopia and the dark years of isolation and repression that followed, the hopes raised by a 2018 peace pact and then dashed by another round of war. It concludes with reflections on how to break this cycle and begin the democratic transition for which so many fought and died.