Waugh in Abyssinia

This reissue of a largely forgotten book by Evelyn Waugh will be the first in our new series edited by John Maxwell Hamilton, From Our Own Correspondent. Waugh's hilarious novel, Scoop, is said to be the closest thing foreign correspondents have to a Bible. Along with generations of general readers, the correspondents swear by and laugh at the antics of reporters in Waugh's fictional Ishmaelia. Few readers, however, are as acquainted with this title. It is Waugh's memoir of his time as a London Daily Mail correspondent in Abyssinia, what is today Ethiopia, during the mid-1930's when Italy invaded the hapless country. Waugh's account, though often criticized for its endorsement of the Italian invasion, provides a fascinating short history of Mussolini's imperial strides. It also introduces Waugh's famous wit and the characters and follies that figure into his notorious satire.