Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Daughter of one of the kings of the four tribes that formerly ruled Uganda, Elizabeth of Toro is among the most intriguing and accomplished contemporary African women. Only the third African woman to graduate from Cambridge University and Uganda's first female attorney, in the 1960s the princess embarked on a highly successful career as an international fashion model, partly, she explains here, to persuade the West of the beauty and sophistication of the Ugandan people. In the 1970s she turned to public service. Idi Amin, whom she initially viewed as a demented savior and whom she later rejected as a potential husband, appointed her foreign minister in 1974; during the politically sensitive years of transition to the current democratic regime, she was Uganda's ambassador to the United States. With disarming modesty, the princess's intelligent and gripping autobiography allows historical events precedence over her own often dramatic adventures. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Sept.)
Elizabeth of Toro: The Autobiography of an African Princess
by Elizabeth NyabongoEditorial Reviews
Library Journal - Library Journal
This autobiography of an African princess royal (her father was the king of Toro) and its comments on modern Ugandan history is a revised edition of African Princess which was published in Nigeria and then in Great Britain in 1983. Additions include accounts of the filming of her book, her marriage and the death of her husband, and her service as Ugandan ambassador to the United States under President Museveni. This very personal view of historical events from a woman who was educated at elite schools and became a lawyer, a high-fashion model, the foreign minister of Uganda under Idi Amin, and, most recently, ambassador to the United States, gives a different perspective from the standard historical accounts of Ugandan history and politics. The organization of the chapters, which include historical commentary out of chronological order, is confusing to anyone without a background in Ugandan history. Of interest to the informed general reader.-- Maidel Cason, Univ. of Delaware, Newark
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780671673963
- Publisher:
- Touchstone
- Publication date:
- 08/15/1989
- Pages:
- 287
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