Richard J. Reid is Head of the Department of History and Professor of the History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of several books, including Frontiers of Violence in Northeast Africa (2011) and Warfare in African History (Cambridge, 2012).

'An exceptional book, which seeks to restore the nation as a focus of historical enquiry in Africa. Reid reframes Uganda's history, moving away from standard narratives of ethnic and sectarian division, and identifying alternative unifying themes - the political creativity, and inequity, stimulated by violence; migration as a source of uneasy integration at best, deepening chauvinism at worst; and the enduring significance of the precolonial period. This reflective, erudite study sheds new light on the uneven creation of a nation, formed through the organic, internal, autogenerative processes of political and social affiliation, as much as the externally-imposed architecture of borders and flags.' Shane Doyle, Director of the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)

• Explanations, apologies and acknowledgements; List of maps; Prologue: a view from the museum; 1. Refractions: beholding Uganda; 2. Pensive nation: the age of blood and rebirth; 3. Rukidi's children: the trials and tribulations of Kabalega and Mwanga; 4. The adventures of Zigeye and Atuk: the age of opportunity and disparity; 5. Kings and others: history and modernity; Epilogue: managing time and space; Sources and bibliography; Index.

Richard J. Reid is Head of the Department of History and Professor of the History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of several books, including Frontiers of Violence in Northeast Africa (2011) and Warfare in African History (Cambridge, 2012).

'An exceptional book, which seeks to restore the nation as a focus of historical enquiry in Africa. Reid reframes Uganda's history, moving away from standard narratives of ethnic and sectarian division, and identifying alternative unifying themes - the political creativity, and inequity, stimulated by violence; migration as a source of uneasy integration at best, deepening chauvinism at worst; and the enduring significance of the precolonial period. This reflective, erudite study sheds new light on the uneven creation of a nation, formed through the organic, internal, autogenerative processes of political and social affiliation, as much as the externally-imposed architecture of borders and flags.' Shane Doyle, Director of the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)

• Explanations, apologies and acknowledgements; List of maps; Prologue: a view from the museum; 1. Refractions: beholding Uganda; 2. Pensive nation: the age of blood and rebirth; 3. Rukidi's children: the trials and tribulations of Kabalega and Mwanga; 4. The adventures of Zigeye and Atuk: the age of opportunity and disparity; 5. Kings and others: history and modernity; Epilogue: managing time and space; Sources and bibliography; Index.

Richard J. Reid is Head of the Department of History and Professor of the History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of several books, including Frontiers of Violence in Northeast Africa (2011) and Warfare in African History (Cambridge, 2012).

'An exceptional book, which seeks to restore the nation as a focus of historical enquiry in Africa. Reid reframes Uganda's history, moving away from standard narratives of ethnic and sectarian division, and identifying alternative unifying themes - the political creativity, and inequity, stimulated by violence; migration as a source of uneasy integration at best, deepening chauvinism at worst; and the enduring significance of the precolonial period. This reflective, erudite study sheds new light on the uneven creation of a nation, formed through the organic, internal, autogenerative processes of political and social affiliation, as much as the externally-imposed architecture of borders and flags.' Shane Doyle, Director of the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)

• Explanations, apologies and acknowledgements; List of maps; Prologue: a view from the museum; 1. Refractions: beholding Uganda; 2. Pensive nation: the age of blood and rebirth; 3. Rukidi's children: the trials and tribulations of Kabalega and Mwanga; 4. The adventures of Zigeye and Atuk: the age of opportunity and disparity; 5. Kings and others: history and modernity; Epilogue: managing time and space; Sources and bibliography; Index.