IDI AMIN, the story of Africa's icon of evil

351pp., map, b/w & colour illus., paperback, Reprint, New Haven, (2020) 2021

Idi Amin (c.1925 – 2003) was a Ugandan military officer who served as President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979.

"Sizing up the challenge of separating fact from fiction, Leopold adopts a novel approach, abandoning straightforward biography in favour of a meticulous examination of the reliability of the various accounts written as Amin rose to prominence ... Leopold picks off the myths, one by one." Michela Wrong, The Times

 "A wonderfully written, original account of the enigmatic Idi Amin." Simukai Chigudu, author of The Political Life of an Epidemic

"Amin was a much more complex person than most think. And his relationships with Britain were also more complex than it is often safe to admit. Leopold's book restores complexity and detail to the man in a way that instructs us never to look superficially at tragedy." Stephen Chan, author of Grasping Africa

Mark Leopold is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex.