Off my Kindle.

During Idi Amin's brutal reign in Uganda, an estimated 100,000-300,000 were killed. One was Eliphaz Laki, who disappeared in 1972. Years later, his son Duncan Laki, then living in the US, returned to Uganda to try to figure out what happened to his father. Through luck and investigation, he was able to discover the two men who kidnapped and killed his father, and the former General, a top aide to Idi Amin, who ordered his father's death. The new Ugandan government brought the three men to trial for murder, a trial that went on for years, and which raised issues of justice/revenge vs. reconciliation/forgiveness. This book is the story of Eliphaz's murder, Duncan's investigation, and the trial. Interspersed throughout is the history of Uganda, largely one of warring tribal factions over the years, and how that history influenced the actions of dictators like Amin as well as succeeding leaders. That history also affected consideration of how matters like these brutalities should be remedied.

There is a lot of interesting insight in this book, ranging from the damage colonialism left in its wake in Africa to the ins and outs of a typical African dictatorship to the arcane workings of the Ugandan judicial system. Overriding all is the question of whether those who participated in Amin's regime, at high levels or low, should be reintegrated into their societies or should they be punished, even executed?

A lot of reviews describe this as a murder mystery or police procedural, and that's what led me to purchase this book, but I found this to be a very minor aspect of the book. It's much more an examination of what kind of culture led to a dictator like Amin, and how that culture should deal with the remnants of that regime. To that extent, it may go rather more deeply into Ugandan history and these moral complexities than might be bargained for by a casual reader. Still, this is one I recommend.

"Amin...had an intuitive feel for populist politics...{H}e began sending his famous telegrams, the wildly impolitic missives that alternately amused and horrified the world." He "also had a gift for outrageous publicity stunts."

Remind you of anyone?

3 star ( )

This book follows the quest of Duncan Laki to find the men who murdered his father under the Amin regime and to find his father's remains for burial. While Duncan's story is compelling, much of the book covers necessary background and history about Uganda. It is well-written and moves quickly through what could easily become boggy material. I learned quite a bit about Ugandan politics and the difficulties of reconciling or even understanding past violence in a nation's history. ( )

A sometimes compelling mix of reportage and history, using the murder trial of one of Idi Amin’s senior military commanders from crimes committed decades earlier to explore the complicated history of Uganda. The story sometimes gets a bit bogged down in the history lesson, but generally Rice walks the tightrope assuredly. It’s not a propulsive read, and you’ll find it dragging in the middle, but you’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the ways in which the huge rifts that cut across Ugandan society throughout the 70s and 80s have been healed (and the ways they haven’t). ( )

A superior work of history and journalism. Rice tells the story of a nation while covering a compelling murder mystery and trial. Hard to understand why this book was not at least shortlisted for the Johnson Prize. ( )

Excellent book about the violent regime of Idi Amin and its effects on current-day Uganda. Rice provides an easily understood explanation of the various factions in Uganda, including the effects of imperialism, religion, and ethnicity. The book effectively uses the recent murder trial of an former Amin general to explore the past and ponder the future of Uganda. ( )