The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget: Murder and Memory in Uganda

One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2009

The people of Uganda have long struggled to bury the worst of their history, but after the violent reign of Idi Amin, reminders were never far from view. In 2000, lawyer Duncan Laki came across a clue to his father's 1972 disappearance, and the ensuing search ultimately led him to a shallow grave -- and then to three old soldiers, including Amin's military chief of staff. Laki's discovery resulted in a trial that, in the end, offered all Ugandans the reckoning they had long been denied. A detective story, a tale of fathers and sons, and a political history, this is above all an illumination of the wounded societies of modern Africa and an exploration of how -- and whether -- the past can ever be lain to rest.