''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist

Giles Foden Giles Foden (born 11 January 1967)George Stade and Karen Karbiener (eds), ''Encyclopaedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present'', 2nd edn, Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 176. is an English author, best known for his novel ''The Last King of S ...

, published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction and historical fact, is written as the memoir of a fictional Scottish doctor in Amin's employ. Foden's novel received critical acclaim and numerous awards when it was published. In 2006, a loose eponymous film adaptation was released.

Plot summary

The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

is a fictional character named Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who goes to work in Uganda out of a sense of idealism and adventure, arriving on the day of the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état. He relates how he came to be the personal physician and confidant of Amin, the

president of Uganda The president of the Republic of Uganda is the head of state and the head of government of Uganda. The president leads the executive branch of the government of Uganda and is the commander-in-chief of the Uganda People's Defence Force. The in ...

during the

Second Republic of Uganda The Second Republic of Uganda existed from 1971 to 1979, when Uganda was ruled by Idi Amin's military dictatorship. The Ugandan economy was devastated by Idi Amin's policies, including the Expulsion of Asians from Uganda, expulsion of Asians, ...

. The novel focuses on Garrigan's relationship and fascination with the president, who soon grows into a brutal and ruthless dictator. Garrigan consciously and repeatedly acts against his better judgment, remaining in Amin's employment until he is far past the point of easy escape physically and morally. Mesmerized by Amin's charm and charisma, he is gradually drawn complicitly into the corruption and brutality of Amin's rule (including his personal participation in the severance of British relations with Uganda, the murder of Kay Amin, the events of

Operation Entebbe Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week ear ...

and the

murder of Dora Bloch Dora Bloch () née Feinberg, a dual Israeli-British citizen, was a hostage on Air France Flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris. The flight was hijacked on 27 June 1976 after a stopover in Athens and rerouted to Entebbe, Uganda. Bloch became ill on ...

, and the Uganda-Tanzania War) with fatal results for his friends and colleagues, which Garrigan treats with a mixture of physical disgust; nonchalant, fatalistic acceptance of living under a totalitarian regime; and self-serving denial of culpability.

Development and inspiration

Drawing on his 20 years of living in Africa and his background as a journalist, Foden researched the events surrounding Amin's rise to power and downfall. He interviewed many of those who watched and participated in the Ugandan ruler's eight-year reign and evokes the form of a memoir by inserting fictional newspaper articles and journal entries, along with actual events. In a 1998 interview with the online magazine ''Boldtype'', Foden said he based parts of Garrigan's character on an associate of Amin's named

Bob Astles Robert Astles, BEM (born Robert Asketill; 23 March 1924 – 29 December 2012) was a British soldier and colonial officer who lived in Uganda and became an associate of presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin. Early life Bob Astles was born in As ...

. As a British soldier who worked his way into Amin's favour, Astles was much more "proactive" than Garrigan, according to Foden, and he paid the price by spending six and a half years in a Ugandan jail after the fall of his protector. Astles compromised himself by his direct association with Amin's security forces. While Amin was in power, Astles was alternately either favoured or punished; he was imprisoned and tortured on at least one occasion. Foden drew in part on a lengthy interview with Astles in ''The Times'' by the journalist

Paul Vallely Paul Vallely CMG is a British writer on religion, ethics, Africa and development issues. In his seminal 1990 book ''Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt'', he first coined the phrase that campaigners needed to move "from char ...

, who spoke to Astles in a Ugandan jail after smuggling a message in to Amin's henchman in a Bible. Another real-life figure who has been mentioned in connection with Garrigan is Scottish doctor

Wilson Carswell John Wilson Carswell (born 1937) is a Scottish physician who was one of the first medical researchers to identify HIV/AIDS in Uganda. He graduated from the King's College London with an MBBS in 1961, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Colle ...

. Amin's personal physician was, in fact, a Ugandan doctor called

Paul D'Arbela Professor Paul George D'Arbela MBChB, FRCP, is a Ugandan physician, cardiologist, academic, and medical researcher. According to a 2008 published report, he is a professor of medicine and the dean of postgraduate studies at the Mother Kevin Post ...

. The title of the book refers to Amin's declaring himself the "

King of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

". Foden claims that the book is an adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' as a third-world dictator.

Awards and nominations

*1998

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...

(for fiction) (shortlist) *1998 Whitbread First Novel Award *1998

Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes ...

*1999

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

*1999

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

Editions in print

*1998: New York: Knopf; Distributed by Random House, hardback, (English) *1998: London: Faber Paperbacks, paperback, (English) *1998: Faber and Faber, paperback, (English) *1999: Vintage Books USA, paperback, (English) *1999: Random House USA, hardcover, (English)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last King of Scotland 1998 British novels Costa Book Award-winning works Cultural depictions of Idi Amin Novels set in Uganda Fiction set in the 1970s British novels adapted into films Faber and Faber books Novels based on plays Works based on Macbeth Novels based on works by William Shakespeare fr:The Last King of Scotland