The occasionally tragic occasionally triumphant always exciting of history Faligor a world that has a lot in common with Uganda. When men reach and colonize the distant world of Faligor it seems a shining example of how contact between alien races can be carried off smoothly...until one particular native of that world stages a coup and begins a campaign of genocide so vicious that horrifies the entire galaxy. Eventually he is replaced but his replacement is even bloodier. And his successor is no better. This novel examines those factors that cause a civilized alien race considered "the pearl of the galaxy" to produce and indeed welcome three such leaders in a row - and what it takes on their part and mankind's to finally rid the planet of them. A fascinating study not only of a unique world but of the darker impulses hiding beneath the façade of every sentient species.