Charles Schaefer, *Peace Not War: Traditions of Restorative Justice in Imperial Ethiopia, 1769-1960*. Rochester, NY: James Currey (an imprint of Boydell and Brewer), 2025.

Ethiopian emperors and their adversaries documented their accomplishments, including initiatives aimed at promoting peace, through a written language. This book emphasizes and analyzes historically substantiated instances, tracing back to 1769, where restorative justice techniques were utilized to resolve conflicts and restore unity within the country. This monograph investigates Ethiopia’s evolving viewpoint on restorative justice, transitioning from the ‘forgive and forget’ attitude of the *Zemene Mesafint* (Era of the Princes), during which offenders were granted pardons, allowing them to regroup and fortify their forces for subsequent confrontations, to a framework of conditional forgiveness recorded by the imperial court, dependent on acts of atonement. Ethiopia’s rich history of experimenting with various restorative justice methods illustrates its ingenuity, flexibility, and resourcefulness. Nevertheless, as the twentieth century progressed, effective, indigenous restorative justice practices were eclipsed by Western legal frameworks that emphasized punishment.