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laurenexploresbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I just finished David Steinman’s first fictional work. This powerful, disturbing, and complex portrayal of Western aid and the consequent ties to dictatorship and genocide provides insight into how dictators can remain in power while being a major contributor to their people’s suffering. This book contains love, complicity, good intentions, betrayal, and genocide.This work is deeply influenced by Mr. Steinman’s work as a senior foreign advisor to Ethiopia’s democracy movement. Steinman was a nominee for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. I received this work in exchange for my honest feedback. I highly recommend this work.
lissa181's review against another edition
5.0
A riveting novelization of the 20+ year struggle of dictatorship in Ethiopia. Wrapped around a beautiful love story, the reader follows characters that begin their journey by fighting for good. But what happens when the good guy becomes corrupt? When the good guy, ends up repeating history? What happens when we blindly follow organizations and don’t research their full intentions? What happens when a country is faced with voter fraud and peaceful turned violent protests? And what happens when war criminals become the director general of the WHO?
“After the holocaust, the west vowed ‘never again’ would such crimes against humanity be tolerated. Yet they have devastated places such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar....and Ethiopia...”
“After the holocaust, the west vowed ‘never again’ would such crimes against humanity be tolerated. Yet they have devastated places such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar....and Ethiopia...”
komet2020's review against another edition
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."
writeramyshannon's review against another edition
4.0
Interestingly informative
Steinman pens a story of fiction, based on facts in Money, Blood and Conscience. This title gives the reader information, as it tells a story. Steinman writes well, and can add the blend of both facts and fiction together in a well-told story. With pains in politics, as well as impact of politics on different cultures, and those who serve or don't wish to serve. It's a very intense and engrossing book, and very unpredictable. I look forward to reading more by this author. This book is recommended by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews.
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