Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

The Last King of Scotland begins with a car crash: Idi Amin, the dictator of Uganda, drives his bright red Maserati at manic speeds down dirt tracks in the countryside and hits a cow. He is thrown clear, but sprains a wrist. Nicholas Garrigan, a foreign service doctor from Scotland, is called upon to tend to him. A few months later, when Amin fires his personal physician, he appoints Garrigan to take the spot. Garrigan narrates the book in the first person, and tells the story of his life in Uganda as Idi Amin's doctor.

Garrigan's new office in Kampala, on the grounds of the State House, is well appointed with nice furniture and a good stock of medical reports and journals. The view from the office shows a manicured lawn, bougainvillea, flame trees and poinsettia, and a lake. Garrigan can...