A very readable book and one that challenges current development discourses with good ethnography and historical scholarship. It is a book that will be particularly useful for teaching in undergraduate courses and in postgraduate seminars! And it is essential reading for students of Uganda, and indeed for students of Africa. -- Michael Whyte African Studies Review A fascinating and convincing book! Yoweri Museveni, so the story goes, has made the hard decisions that would usher in economic, social, and political development, and for that he is feted in Western capitals and is showered with millions in aid. Instead, Jones examines Oledai sub-parish in the Iteso region of eastern Uganda, where the state and NGOs appear more or less irrelevant to daily life, and the achievements for which Museveni is hailed are nowhere to be seen. -- Brett L. Shadle Journal of African History Offers a new anthropological perspective on how to think about processes of social and political change in poorer parts of the world, appealing to anyone interested in African development. Society Now An attractive option for classroom use. ... Advanced undergraduate students in anthropology, history, and development studies would find much to value in this text. Graduate students and specialists will also appreciate Jones' ability to integrate sophisticated theoretical arguments into a compelling ethnohistorical analysis. -- Alicia Decker International Journal of African Historical Studies I consider the book to be a welcome addition to the recent ethnographic literature on East Africa. -- Jan de Wolf Social Anthropology An accessible, intelligent, and stimulating account, and a very welcome addition to a literature on Uganda which frequently does limit itself, as Jones himself argues, to rather reactionary and conventional accounts of developmental 'transformation'. -- Tania Kaiser Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute A very readable book and one that challenges current development discourses with good ethnography and historical scholarship. It is a book that will be particularly useful for teaching in undergraduate courses and in postgraduate seminars! And it is essential reading for students of Uganda, and indeed for students of Africa. A fascinating and convincing book! Yoweri Museveni, so the story goes, has made the hard decisions that would usher in economic, social, and political development, and for that he is feted in Western capitals and is showered with millions in aid. Instead, Jones examines Oledai sub-parish in the Iteso region of eastern Uganda, where the state and NGOs appear more or less irrelevant to daily life, and the achievements for which Museveni is hailed are nowhere to be seen. Offers a new anthropological perspective on how to think about processes of social and political change in poorer parts of the world, appealing to anyone interested in African development. An attractive option for classroom use. ... Advanced undergraduate students in anthropology, history, and development studies would find much to value in this text. Graduate students and specialists will also appreciate Jones' ability to integrate sophisticated theoretical arguments into a compelling ethnohistorical analysis. I consider the book to be a welcome addition to the recent ethnographic literature on East Africa. An accessible, intelligent, and stimulating account, and a very welcome addition to a literature on Uganda which frequently does limit itself, as Jones himself argues, to rather reactionary and conventional accounts of developmental 'transformation'.