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No, we're not talking Bonnie Prince Charlie here. The title character of Giles Foden's debut novel, The Last King of Scotland, is none other than Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda. Told from the viewpoint of Nicholas Garrigan, Amin's personal physician, the novel chronicles the hell that was Uganda in the 1970s. Garrigan, the only son of a Scots Presbyterian minister, finds himself far away from Fossiemuir when he accepts a post with the Ministry of Health in Uganda. His arrival in Kampala coincides with the coup that leads to President Obote's overthrow and Idi Amin Dada's ascendancy to power. Garrigan spends only a few days in the capital city, however, before heading out to his assignment in the bush. But a freak traffic accident involving Amin's sports car and a cow eventually brings the good doctor into the dictator's orbit; a few months later, Garrigan is recalled from his rural hospital and named personal physician to the president. Soon enough, Garrigan finds himself caught between his duty to his patient and growing pressure from his own government to help them control Amin.
From Nicholas Garrigan's catbird seat, Foden guides us through the horrors of Amin's Uganda. It would be simple enough to make the dictator merely monstrous, but Foden defies expectation, rendering him appealing even as he terrifies. The doctor "couldn't help feeling awed by the sheer size of him and the way, even in those unelevated circumstances, he radiated a barely restrained energy.... I felt--far from being the healer--that some kind of elemental force was seeping into me." And Garrigan makes a fine stand-in for Conrad's Marlow as he travels up a river of blood from naiveté to horrified recognition of his own complicity. As if this weren't enough, Foden also treats us to a finely drawn portrait of Africa in all its natural, political, and social complexity. The Last King of Scotland makes for dark but compelling reading. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his red Maserati, has run over a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, in his obsession for all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. And so begins a fateful dalliance with the central African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
In
The Last King of Scotland Foden's Amin is as ridiculous as he is abhorrent: a grown man who must be burped like an infant, a self-proclaimed cannibalist who, at the end of his 8 years in power, would be responsible for 300,000 deaths. And as Garrigan awakens to his patient's baroque barbarism--and his own complicity in it--we enter a venturesome meditation on conscience, charisma, and the slow corruption of the human heart. Brilliantly written, comic and profound,
The Last King of Scotland announces a major new talent.
Customer Reviews:
Mistah Kurtz--he alive again..........2007-09-29
In Giles Foden's fictionalized account of a Scottish doctor's experiences as the personal physician to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, evil isn't banal, after all--it's pompous, unpredictable, oafish, ostentatious, alternately unspeakably cruel and imbued with childlike exuberance, and, perhaps most startling of all, it's often more acutely wise to the ways of human nature than we care to admit. It throbs with the amorality of the life-force itself. Whatever else it might be, evil in the considerable form of Idi Amin is anything but boring.
*The Last King of Scotland* is a novel set firmly in the classic tradition of Joseph Conrad's *Heart of Darkness.* In this version of the Conradian theme, a young white doctor, highly-educated, civilized, British, heads to an under-developed Uganda driven by a mix of boredom, aimlessness, and the dim intention of doing some good. He's not there long when control of the country is forcibly seized by a Ugandan general named Idi Amin. Dr. Nicholas Garrigan and General Amin meet by accident--literally--when Garrigan is called to the scene of a roadside collision between a cow and a red Maserati drive by the new Ugandan president for life. Amin takes a liking to Nick--whose Scottish ancestry appeals to the general's obsession with Scotland--and offers the young doctor the position as his personal physician. It's an offer Nick can't refuse, not that he tries too hard to do so. After all, it's a rather prestigious post, better than working in the bush, and Amin is a dynamic and charismatic figure. There've been some rumors, but there are always rumors. Amin doesn't seem so bad, no worse than dozens of others in his position...not yet.
And so begins Nick's journey towards the heart of darkness and the beast who dwells there, propelled on his way by a quickening series of rationalizations, compromises, and choices that slowly erode his conscience and leave him a victim of circumstances. In the end, it's all too clear and all too late. Idi Amin is a monster and Garrigan is his doctor, his confidant, and his apologist--if only because by explaining Amin, Garrigan explains himself.
Fiction in which major historical personages like Amin play a major role always runs the risk of straining credulity, ringing false, or offering a pale imitation of the original. What with truth being stranger than fiction and all. Especially such recent, bizarre, and well-documented history. How do you top the real-life stories of cannibalism, the heads in the freezer, etc.? But Foden does a remarkable job in breathing life into Amin's larger-than-life persona and his many notorious exploits. Foden is equally remarkable in his portrayal of Nicholas Garrigan. Written in the first person, supposedly as a journal, Foden so convincingly and engagingly describes everything from the presenting symptoms of rare (and disgusting) tropical diseases to field dressing gunshot wounds, you'd think Garrigan must be a doctor himself, or at the very least, had some sort of extensive medical training, although his author bio doesn't mention either. His Uganda is so vividly realized you don't doubt his narrator for an instant. In any event, the cumulative result is a novel that often doesn't read like fiction at all, but the memoir it's fictionally supposed to be. Only towards the end of *Last King* does this verisimilitude quaver a bit with the doctor's final confrontations with Amin and the consequences of Garrigan's Ugandan adventure with the British government and media. But this is a novel, after all, and while *Last King* makes an intelligent "thriller" Foden also does a perfectly credible job of speaking for Amin, who is himself a very effective mouthpiece for the heart of darkness--by turns seductive and horrific, satanic and angelic, the source of a running stream-of-conscious monologue that expresses the ongoing dialectic between good and evil in our own hearts; a debate we begin uneasily to suspect--not the least of which in our own fascination with figures such as Amin--is not strictly a matter of either/or.
An old-school novel of adventure and ideas, politics and moral dilemma made new again for our ambivalent and morally bankrupt age, *The Last King of Scotland* might very well be a genuine classic itself one of these days and it's depiction of an "innocent" man's journey to the Kurtz of the late 20th century take on even more mythic proportions. Until then, it's a timely, exciting, and excellently written story you'll find hard to put down until you run out of pages--and even harder to forget when you do.
Idi Amin rules (this book).......2007-07-29
So of course, my title refers to the character of Idi Amin rather than the man himself. In his first novel, Giles Foden tells the story of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who becomes Idi Amin's personal physician after the madman's rise to power in Uganda. Garrigan is personally torn between the facts of Amin's cruel military dictatorship, which he gets first- and second-hand, and the charms of the man in the flesh. This novel is told from the point of view of Garrigan writing his memoir of sorts, so that he is able to reflect on his time in Uganda and his connections (or lack thereof) with the atrocities committed there.
I wanted to read this book before seeing the movie, so now I have reason to get myself to the rental store. Tales of Forrest Whittaker's performance echo among the treetops, but in reading this book, it becomes clear that Whittaker had great material to work with. Foden's portrayal of Amin is masterful--Amin is a character larger than life in both his horror and energy and maybe even charisma, yet somehow identifiable, which is what makes him all the more scary. From his sermon from the platform of a device that lets him emerge almost god-like from a pool, a sermon he gives while chowing down on chicken and soda, to his moments of dementia when in his torture dungeon, Amin is a superb character, well worth the hatred and planning done by other characters in this book, plans to overthrow him and even kill him, plans that of course sometimes cross Doctor Garrigan's path. There is a moment later in the book, during the time of the anticipated downfall, that gets almost too unreal, too horror-movie, and Foden doesn't really convince during that chapter, which is unfortunate, because he succeeds quite well with Amin through most of the rest of the book.
But also, Doctor Garrigan's introduction of sorts, the situating of his life and viewpoints in the days before meeting Amin, was much less than interesting. I found myself glancing through many of these paragraphs rather than avidly reading them. Only when Amin came full force into the story did I finally know what drive I was missing, but unfortunately Doctor Garrigan and the historical background takes up the first 120 pages of the book or so.
It seems to be a kind of unwinnable trap that Foden fell into and couldn't quite figure a way out. Clearly, Amin himself would not have served well as the primary focus of this book. His psychology was too wavering, and I had no interest in finding out the source of his being. Garrigan was a much more human character, with a moral, ethical and philosophical dilemma that is clearly the stuff of good fiction, but ultimately he does not pan out as an engaging figure to center the book on. As alluded to before, Foden's work with Amin is strong enough to pull this book through in the end, but the overall framework left a little to be desired. A good read, once you get past the obligatory set-up and character spotlights to get the real narrative going.
Great read........2007-07-24
The Last King of Scotland is a first book by Giles Foden. It takes place in Uganda, from the viewpoint of a young English physician. It is an intriguing read and complex enough to almost be a mystery novel but is based on the true story. I saw the movie before reading the book and that sequence just enhanced the reading. The book outdoes the movie, except for Forest Witaker,the "Last King of Scotland." Read it and find out what happens!
good..not great though.......2007-04-17
This book was ok. I liked the characters, however I felt like I got lost sometimes in the dialogue and it moved a little slow at times and didn't make sense to me.
You definitely believe the plight of Dr Garrigan and feel sorry for him as when he finally wants to escape it is too late.
I guess the ending kinda surprised me as there was no redemption for Dr Garrigan, he didn't get to have any revenge on Idi.
This was a page-turner for me albeit a slow one though. I didn't really get sucked in like I do with a great book. So I call this book good, not great.
Boring........2007-04-10
I was expecting a memoir about Idi Amin to be a little more eventful than this book. It was too detail oriented and got going way too slowly. The last hundred pages were great, but you have to wade through a lot before you get there.
Book Description
The course of world history has often been set by powerful individuals who had an insatiable hunger for power, wealth, fame, and glory. In many cases, these villains have ruled countries and empires with violence and oppression--inflicting their ideals on innocent people.
History's Villains takes a two-sided look at some of history's most influential villains; the series explores simultaneously the influences and experiences that shaped the figure, but does so in the context of the time. What emerges is a unique story about a world that changed a person and a person that changed the world.
Customer Reviews:
Exce,,ent, to-the-point book........2007-05-27
Want a REAL example of "Black Power? here it is, in all it's(?) glory.
And come to think of it: why, in the 8 or 9 years this clown was in power, did we NEVER hear any criticism from Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton
about this madman? Let a white leader so much as fart against the wind and they're all over him, but good ol' Uncle Idi kills more than 400,000 Africans and we hear not a peep out of either "Reverand" Al or "Reverand" Jesse! This book is short, concise, and very readable - It cuts to the chase right away and tells it all!!!!
Book Description
Idi Amin, who preferred to be called "Big Daddy," will go down in history as one of the most vilified mass murderers of the twentieth century. Self proclaimed President of Uganda, Amin illegally seized power in a military coup in 1971 and tyrannically ruled ten million fellow Ugandans until he ignominiously fled the African country in 1979. In his wake Amin left deplorable examples of brutality, torture, murder, and demented personal behavior. During his eight years of barbaric rule an estimated three hundred thousand Ugandans were killed by his orders. Although Amin died in exile in 2003 a failed dictator, there is still much to be learned about Uganda's history, Amin's dictatorship, and how he orchestrated his rise to power and maintained power while inflicting so much pain on his followers.
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Idi Amin: Death-light of Africa
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The Last King of Scotland
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Idi Amin and Uganda: An Annotated Bibliography (African Special Bibliographic Series)
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Book Description
In this volume, Martin Jamison provides a descriptive bibliography of published material on Idi Amin and Uganda during the Amin years. Arranging the entries topically within chronological sections, Jamison covers the span of Amin's reign from 1971 to 1979. The work also includes entries providing background information on Amin and covering Amin in exile. The volume covers scholarly, research-level, English-language works, all of which are generally accessible in libraries in North America. The literature covered includes journal articles, books, chapters within edited volumes, conference papers, government publications, audiovisual materials, and theses. Works included are those that are substantial and to the point, that provide more than a passing glance of Amin, and that speak directly to the topic of Amin or Uganda under Amin. With some exceptions, the bibliography excludes newspaper articles, popular or news magazine articles, fiction, encyclopedias, yearbooks, and other standard handbooks. After personally examining all but fifteen of the entries cited, Jamison has provided descriptive, nonevaluative annotations. Annotations also note such features as length, type of illustrative material, indexes, and notes. The volume also includes author, title, and subject indexes. It will be a valuable aid for students and other researchers who want to find and select literature on Idi Amin and his times.
Customer Reviews:
Another sad tale in the sad history of what seems to be a hopeless continent.......2007-03-31
My fiancé and I recently went to see the Academy Award winning movie, "The Last King of Scotland." In it Forest Whitaker gives a vivid and accurate portrayal of Idi Amin, the brutal former dictator of Uganda. Although some of the characters in the movie are fictitious, the general plotline is accurate. Amin was basically an uneducated thug who managed to take control of a nation and destroy it. I had read this book when it first came out and the movie prompted me to read it again.
In a continent where brutal, murderous dictators are the norm, Amin was one of the worst. He created a cadre of brutal henchmen whose only purpose was to terrorize the population into submission and grow rich in the process. They were allowed to steal anything from anybody with killing their victims largely acceptable. Under his reign, the Ugandan economy collapsed, what should have been a prosperous nation was turned into one of the poorest performing economies. His expulsion of the Asian merchant class was quite possibly the greatest single economic blunder made in the history of the continent.
Kyemba documents the rise of Amin, how at first he seemed to genuinely want to improve the lives of Ugandans. However, in the time worn tradition of tyrants, who only seem capable of becoming even more tyrannical, that soon changed. The latest estimates were that 300,000 Ugandans were killed under Amin's rule, many in as brutal a form as possible.
As Kyemba notes, eyes were gouged out, organs removed, limbs chopped off, and all for no reason other than to make sure that Amin's rule was absolute. Thousands of people were rounded up to witness executions so that there was no doubt in the mind of the people what would happen to them if they resisted.
This is a sad book about a sad state of affairs in a continent that seems forever doomed to be ruled by petty, brutal tyrants. After the movie was over, my fiancé asked me how accurate it was and she was surprised when I said it was very accurate. Amin did indeed do most of the things seen in the movie and once again, the rest of the world did nothing to stop it. That also seems to be part of the "forever doomed" scenario.
Terrifying insight into one of the cruelest dictators of the 20th century.......2007-03-03
This book, written by Idi Amin's former Minister of Health in 1977 just a year before his downfall, was supposedly the book that helped transform the world opinion of Idi Amin. He went from being considered a comical dictator (like the late Turkmenbashi) to a murderous madman who found no position or law sacred. (like the late Saddam Hussein)
Henry Kyemba opens the book with a short narrative of Ugandan history, and then explains how a man like Idi Amin could come to power so easily. Most interesting is a passage in which we find out Idi Amin could have been removed from the scene before he had any political will:
"Ugandan troops had been sent to the northern part of Karamoja on one of their regular trips to clamp down on cattle raiding...The information received in the Prime Minister's office was that a lieutenant had massacred a number of people in his search for arms. The British were considering prosecuting him...the decision was referred to Obote. He decided not to prosecute. I later learned that the officer involved was Idi Amin." (pg 22)
After Obote, the Prime Minister of Uganda, dissolves parliament and takes over power, Idi Amin is granted the highest army position. Finally, while Obote and much of his cabinet were away on a diplomatic mission in Singapore, Idi Amin led a coupe that put him in power. At first, all seems well. Idi Amin enjoys the popular support (Obote was an unpopular ruler) and he allows political enemies to return home. Later on, however, his reign of terror grows as he becomes more and more paranoid. He took foreign tribes (Nubians and Sudanese) and puts them in high positions, and gradually puts more Muslims into his cabinet. (Muslims are a large minority in Uganda) Any one considered an enemy was killed and dumped into the Nile, where they were expected to be fed to crocodiles. During all this, one wonders why Kyemba and many others did not simply flee. He answers that he was not yet ready to simply get up and leave, as that was really only optional for higher positions - he also explains that, early on, many people believed they could sincerely control Amin or change Uganda from the inside with their own influence. As Amin took greater control and Uganda descended into chaos, that idea became only a dream.
Granted, as I read I began to wonder how much was true. It's not that I don't think Amin was a terrible ruler, but often stories told by survivors - especially regarding Amin - get exaggerated. My fears were calmed a good bit near the end of the fourth chapter when Kyemba discusses a popularized atrocity that, in fact, never happened.
"The reports of this incident in the international press spoke of up to 700 dead...this is absolutely untrue...One girl, who was listed as dead, was in fact at her parents' house, where I found her fit and well. Another, who reportedly had a breast cut off, I also found, uninjured...Gross misrepresentation of this kind does nothing to aid the cause of justice in Uganda. The truth is horrific enough." (pg 127)
Eventually the crimes become too terrible for Kyemba to ignore. One of the worst acts described is one involving a new method of killing prisoners to save ammunition. Two prisoners would be brought into a room, then one would be given a hammer and told to kill the other to win his freedom. As soon as he had done this, another prisoner would be brought in, given the hammer, and be told the same thing. Henry Kyemba finally describes his escape from Uganda to England, and his ability to help get his family out as well.
The last two chapters are dedicated to mocking world opinion of Idi Amin, as well as a general call to remove him from power. Kyemba criticizes foreign diplomats for shrugging him off as an eccentric nobody, partially because of the bizarre telegrams he sent to different leaders. Kyemba also mocks black Americans in the 1970's who took racial pride in Amin's power, and seemed to ignore the plight of his people. I think such feelings of liking a person for their ideals rather than for who they really are still continues, and Kyemba's words ring true even in our modern times:
"For those visitors to accept such propaganda as evidence, and then to make statements about present-day Uganda, is as great a disservice to the country as anyone can possible imagine." (pg 244)
Overall, this book is a recommended reading. It is amazingly short and easy to read, and is a great source for history regarding Uganda, Idi Amin, or Africa in general. I would suggest finding a copy of your own. (or borrowing it from someone who owns it already)
a mouth watering book.......2000-02-12
MR,KYEMBA HAS TURN OUT A VERY POWERFULL BOOK ABOUT AFRICAN LEADERSHIP AND THE INTRIGUES THAT WENT ON DURING MR.AMIN TERM IN OFFICE.IT IS VERY ACCURATE SINCE THE AUTHOR WAS A MEMBER OF MR.AMIN INNER CIRCLE.I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ALL LOVERS OF POLITICS AND AFRICAN HISTORY.
A peek into the attrocities commited by Idi Amin.......1998-01-29
I read this book a few months ago and it gave me an idea just how terrible it must have been to live under Amin's rule. The Author who was one of Amin's ministers had a good look into Amin and his government and how it worked. This book is deffinatly a good book to read if you want to know about Idi Amin and his regime.
Book Description
Design Rules for Letterheads is a collection of invaluable information, insight, advice, and design examples for anyone designing or commissioning the design of letterhead and stationery.
Design Rules for Letterheads gives quick and easy pointers on all aspects of letterhead and stationery design in more than 70 concise articles. The book helps you negotiate the many decisions that a stationery designer has to make -- where to position the company's contact information; what space to allow for the text of the letter itself; what shape and size paper to use; what typography, colors, and printing processes to select; and so on -- and explains clearly how stationery items can work not just on paper, but in other media such as e-mail or website content.
A wealth of practical advice, the book showcases more than 100 examples of work from the simplest one-color letterhead to designs with complex color printing, die-cuts and embossing. These stationery designs from the world's leading designers show that there are an infinite number of stylish and original solutions to the challenge of creating original letterheads.
Customer Reviews:
A Missed Opportunity.......2004-12-30
There is a need for a book with the "rules" for designing letterheads and business cards, but this isn't it. It's just one more book of ideas and suggestions, foregoing the opportunity to mention standard (but rarely outlined) guidelines that can be adhered to or just to be aware of, so that if, as I do, you have some clients who are more on the traditional side, you know the rules and reasons behind what makes a stationary system a "system"; and then you can go ahead and bend the design rules with an understanding and better feel for how far you want to veer away. I would have liked more discussion on the organization of the small bits of text, and examples of effective and non-effective choices.
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