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Acknowledgments

Kiwanuka Lawrence Nsereko was born in 1968, a few years after Uganda’s independence, and grew up in a rural village. As in many Ugandan households, children were expected to summarize newspaper stories, church sermons, school lessons and neighborhood goings-on for their elders in the evenings. Lawrence must have excelled at these monologues, because his fine oratory skills made him an invaluable partner in the writing of this book. Every incidental question—Was it 1989 or 1990 when so-and-so happened? What was the name of the village where you were arrested?—elicited a story with details of personalities, motivations, actions, parallel events, background and priceless commentary.

For their courage and insights into Ugandan politics, I particularly wish to thank Kizza Besigye, Winnie Byanyima, David Sejusa, Paul Ssemogerere, Zoe Bakoko Bakuru, the Otunnu brothers—Ochoro, Ogenga, Amii Omara- and Olara—and numerous other Ugandan friends whose names I dare not print.

I also gathered much wisdom from Uganda’s many fine journalists working inside and outside the country, including Daniel Kalinaki, Charles Onyango-Obbo, Eriasa Sserunjogi, Rod Muhumuza and the reporters at the Monitor and Observer newspapers.

American and European diplomats who tried to do the right thing, even when this was not possible, were an inspiration to me.

For discussions, I am extremely grateful to Bill Easterly, Steve Hubbell, John Ryle, Nuruddin Farah, Maria Burnett, Leslie Lefkow, Boniface Musavuli, Remember Miamingi, Pagan Amum, Alex Papachristou, Jesse Ribot and Jean Stein.

Milton Allimadi, Jonathan Fisher, Filip Reyntjens, Peter Rosenblum, Shaka Ssali, Harry Verhoeven and my father Jason kindly commented on an early draft of this manuscript. It is much improved, thanks to their efforts. Any remaining errors are obviously mine.

Uganda is not a country that typically hogs the headlines, and I am extremely grateful to a number of editors for helping me tell its story. Versions of some chapters originally appeared in the New York Review of Books where I had the great luck to work with editor Bob Silvers. He didn’t look like a radical, but working with him sometimes felt less like collaboration than conspiracy. Without ever being partisan or doctrinaire, he was profoundly and instinctively sympathatic to those who were too weak, or too oppressed to speak for themselves. I am also grateful to Hugh Eakin of the New York Review Daily, Vera Titunik of the New Yorker Online, Gemma Sieff of Harpers, and Muhammed Ademo of Al-Jazeera.

This book would not exist had Nick Lemann, Camille McDuffie and Jimmy So of Columbia Global Reports not approached me for a book on public health in early 2015 and then put up with many changes of direction since. My agent Anna Stein of ICM was a patient, wise and generous counselor throughout.

Research for this book was supported by the Open Society Foundations, New York University’s Development Research Institute, the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and the New York Review Foundation.

Finally, thanks and love to Jake, Dad, Judy, Susie, Sam, Natalie and Thomas.