Walter Rodney is the author of West Africa and the Slave Trade A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800; How Europe Underdeveloped Africa; Groundings with My Brothers; and other works. After teaching at the University of the West Indies and the University of Tanzania, he returned to his native Guyana in 1974. The leader of the Working's People's Alliance of Guyana, Rodney was killed as the government was preparing to bring him to trial for his political activities.