Born on 29 March 1949 in Surrey, England, Richard Dowden read History at Bedford College, London University (1967–70).

[2] He first went to Africa in 1971 and worked as a volunteer teacher in a rural part of Uganda, until the end of 1972, when he left the country because of Idi Amin's dictatorship.

In Dowden's words, in December 1972: "Amin declared all whites in our area to be spies who had uniforms and guns hidden in their houses.

As underlined by African Affairs, the top-ranked Africanist journal,[5] the book can be considered between an academic and a popular text, allowing the reader to become interested in the subject even if they are not Africa experts.

"[7]From 2002 to 2017, Dowden was Executive Director at the Royal African Society (RAS), an association founded in 1901 to promote relations and a better understanding between Africa and Great Britain.