Bereket Habte Selassie is an emeritus Distinguished Professor of African Studies and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His memoirs, *The Crown and the Pen*, relate the story of a man straddling two worlds—a progressive lawyer and Attorney General under Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie. He struggled for justice within an archaic system bedeviled with imperial court intrigue. Banished to a distant province, he eventually escaped to his native Eritrea, where he joined the armed struggle for independence.

His memoirs and his novel *Riding the Whirlwind* (1993) paint a dramatic picture of a tumultuous life fraught with tension from opposing ideas and forces. After leaving Africa, he settled in America and began an academic career, writing over twenty books, including works of fiction. *Defiance* is his third novel. He was appointed to head the Constitutional Commission that drafted Eritrea’s new constitution. His latest book is *Critical Narrative and Reflections on Ethiopian History—From the Kingdom of Aksum to Menelik’s Multi-ethnic Empire*.

Selassie is a highly sought-after educator and speaker.