Historical Context

This article, by Helen Epstein, examines the turbulent history of Uganda through the lens of two of its most consequential leaders, Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni. It explores how Amin’s brutal regime shaped everyday life, state institutions, and historical memory in ways that continue to echo today. Drawing on archival research and firsthand accounts, the […]

To understand the events described in Bloodshed for Power, it is necessary to step back and look at Uganda as it stood in the years immediately before the military coup of 1971. Without this context, what followed can appear sudden, even inexplicable. It was neither. Uganda in the late 1960s was a young nation, less