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A Popular History of Idi Amin's Uganda
How Africa’s most notorious tyrant made his oppressive regime seem both necessary and patriotic “Peterson, an expert archivist, has created, from heaps of file folders, magnetic tapes, and other materials recovered from abandoned storage rooms around the country, what is probably the largest organized repository of government documents anywhere in Africa. . . . The details of what they found, and especially what they didn’t find, are fascinating.”―Helen Epstein,
New York Review of Books
Idi Amin ruled Uganda between 1971 and 1979, inflicting tremendous violence on the people of the country. How did Amin’s regime survive for eight calamitous years? Drawing on recently uncovered archival material, Derek Peterson reconstructs the political logic of the era, focusing on the ordinary people―civil servants, curators and artists, businesspeople, patriots―who invested their energy and resources in making the government work.
Peterson reveals how Amin (1928–2003) led ordinary people to see themselves as front-line soldiers in a global war against imperialism and colonial oppression. They worked tirelessly to ensure that government institutions kept functioning, even as resources dried up and political violence became pervasive. In this case study of how principled, talented, and patriotic people sacrificed themselves in service to a dictator, Peterson provides lessons for our own time.
Idi Amin ruled Uganda between 1971 and 1979, inflicting tremendous violence on the people of the country. How did Amin’s regime survive for eight calamitous years? Drawing on recently uncovered archival material, Derek Peterson reconstructs the political logic of the era, focusing on the ordinary people―civil servants, curators and artists, businesspeople, patriots―who invested their energy and resources in making the government work.
Peterson reveals how Amin (1928–2003) led ordinary people to see themselves as front-line soldiers in a global war against imperialism and colonial oppression. They worked tirelessly to ensure that government institutions kept functioning, even as resources dried up and political violence became pervasive. In this case study of how principled, talented, and patriotic people sacrificed themselves in service to a dictator, Peterson provides lessons for our own time.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published June 24, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 28, 2025
It's fine.
This is not really a proper overview of Idi Amin and his reign as you can watch a 1 hour documentary and learn more from it. This book is about how history was forgotten. And how the population didn't rebel enough. How the self described African Hitler used the radio to entice people and win power then genocide his own population. He moved away from Israel and Britain and instead joined hands with Gaddafi and PLO suddenly supporting Muslim terrorists. Meaning Europe was now in much greater danger as Gaddafi blew up European planes and Idi Amin let West German and PLO terrorists hijack a plane and then separate Jews from the rest telling Israel they would kill all these Jews if Israel didn't force several European nations to free certain prisoners. Entebbe raid was staged by Israel and nearly all Jews freed.
Of course this is my outline. An outline NOT found in the book as it's about day to day life in Uganda. It's fine enough as I did understand old Uganda a bit better. Yet without an overview how will other readers learn from the book? Unless you already know all the geopolitics this will read a bit messy and confusing. Often he describes his own historical research and how they found documents. It's super fascinating at times yet one often waits around for the meaty parts and they never arrive. The Entebbe raid which was the key event alongside the Asians expulsion got a few pages. This is the stuff most readers want to explore as the raid is famous.
Basically, it's a shame. I think most readers are seeking out an overview first then we can give deeper. Yet this is the first search result so many read this and get confused. I too just gambled. I knew this wasn't fully what I was seeking yet I didn't find anything else.
This is not really a proper overview of Idi Amin and his reign as you can watch a 1 hour documentary and learn more from it. This book is about how history was forgotten. And how the population didn't rebel enough. How the self described African Hitler used the radio to entice people and win power then genocide his own population. He moved away from Israel and Britain and instead joined hands with Gaddafi and PLO suddenly supporting Muslim terrorists. Meaning Europe was now in much greater danger as Gaddafi blew up European planes and Idi Amin let West German and PLO terrorists hijack a plane and then separate Jews from the rest telling Israel they would kill all these Jews if Israel didn't force several European nations to free certain prisoners. Entebbe raid was staged by Israel and nearly all Jews freed.
Of course this is my outline. An outline NOT found in the book as it's about day to day life in Uganda. It's fine enough as I did understand old Uganda a bit better. Yet without an overview how will other readers learn from the book? Unless you already know all the geopolitics this will read a bit messy and confusing. Often he describes his own historical research and how they found documents. It's super fascinating at times yet one often waits around for the meaty parts and they never arrive. The Entebbe raid which was the key event alongside the Asians expulsion got a few pages. This is the stuff most readers want to explore as the raid is famous.
Basically, it's a shame. I think most readers are seeking out an overview first then we can give deeper. Yet this is the first search result so many read this and get confused. I too just gambled. I knew this wasn't fully what I was seeking yet I didn't find anything else.
May 7, 2026
An expository review on how a nation’s: hopes, dreams, and expectations eventually clashed with the hash & sobering realities of life.
How a nation’s history transitioned into & out from the figurative frying pan of Amin’s leadership, into Museveni’s fire!
How a nation’s history transitioned into & out from the figurative frying pan of Amin’s leadership, into Museveni’s fire!
January 20, 2026
just fully ignores the experiences of Ugandan Asians in favour of the economic war
September 8, 2025
I remember watching *The Last King of Scotland* in high school and thinking it was great, even rewatching it a few times. It probably says something that, despite watching the movie so many times, I had no idea what country Idi Amin was in charge of, or where Uganda was on the map. I picked up this book as I start working on a research project with relevance to Uganda.
This is a straightforward academic text. Every chapter could be a standalone article; each starts with an overview, then empirical content, then conclusion. An interesting and worthwhile book about Uganda's most famous leader. Less a comprehensive overview and more a series of chapters that each touch on a theme of his rule.
Some things that stood out. First, Uganda is composed of kingdoms, which persisted through British colonialism and into independence. Each kingdom was pretty close to autonomous, with its own laws, parliament, and even police force. For Idi Amin's story, the most important kingdom is Buganda, encompassing the modern day capital of Kampala. A weak electoral process brings Obote to power who, because of the pre-existing kingdoms, has little actual power. His first move is to crush the ancient kingdoms, famously Buganda. Given these pre-existing forms of political organization and hostile neighbors, Obote's government is a "nervous state," paranoid of overthrow. With good reason: he is ultimately overthrown by Idi Amin while out of the country in 1971.
Second, at the time of independence there are a number of South Asian people living in Uganda, communities that skew better off, tending to own small businesses. There is deep resentment: one of the earliest forms of popular mobilization around independence is a boycott of South Asian businesses. Idi Amin's early rule focuses on expelling this community as part of his "Economic War."
Third, while Idi Amin's brutality is well known, I had less exposure to his efforts to make Uganda the frontline of anti-colonial struggle in Africa. His demagoguery against Israel and later alliance with Palestinian militants, his courting of Libya and Saudi Arabia for funding – fascinating case of a brutal leader who had genuine ideological commitments.
The chapters on the economy during Amin's rule are also very good: showing how expelling the South Asian community devastated the commercial sector and how the regime then turned to coffee smuggling and other illicit enterprises to stay afloat.
This is a straightforward academic text. Every chapter could be a standalone article; each starts with an overview, then empirical content, then conclusion. An interesting and worthwhile book about Uganda's most famous leader. Less a comprehensive overview and more a series of chapters that each touch on a theme of his rule.
Some things that stood out. First, Uganda is composed of kingdoms, which persisted through British colonialism and into independence. Each kingdom was pretty close to autonomous, with its own laws, parliament, and even police force. For Idi Amin's story, the most important kingdom is Buganda, encompassing the modern day capital of Kampala. A weak electoral process brings Obote to power who, because of the pre-existing kingdoms, has little actual power. His first move is to crush the ancient kingdoms, famously Buganda. Given these pre-existing forms of political organization and hostile neighbors, Obote's government is a "nervous state," paranoid of overthrow. With good reason: he is ultimately overthrown by Idi Amin while out of the country in 1971.
Second, at the time of independence there are a number of South Asian people living in Uganda, communities that skew better off, tending to own small businesses. There is deep resentment: one of the earliest forms of popular mobilization around independence is a boycott of South Asian businesses. Idi Amin's early rule focuses on expelling this community as part of his "Economic War."
Third, while Idi Amin's brutality is well known, I had less exposure to his efforts to make Uganda the frontline of anti-colonial struggle in Africa. His demagoguery against Israel and later alliance with Palestinian militants, his courting of Libya and Saudi Arabia for funding – fascinating case of a brutal leader who had genuine ideological commitments.
The chapters on the economy during Amin's rule are also very good: showing how expelling the South Asian community devastated the commercial sector and how the regime then turned to coffee smuggling and other illicit enterprises to stay afloat.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews