Based on thousands of primary documents and 180 on - the - record interviews, the
story unfolds day by day, hour by hour, and at times minute by minute, with a
rich cast of characters — military officers, American and Viet Cong soldiers, chancellors, professors, students, police officers, businessmen, mime troupers, a president and his men, a future mayor and future vice president — moving toward battles that forever shaped their lives and evoked cultural and political
conflicts that reverberate still.
Like Em and Teo's tangled history, Ethiopia's is an intricate crosshatch of tradition, progress,
conflict, and
rich heritage, and Wein gracefully pilots both piercing
stories, highlighting the unique circumstances of Ethiopia in the 1930s and the ubiquitous experience of two teens trying to find their places in the world.