In 1935 Italy declared war on Abyssinia and Evelyn Waugh was sent to Addis
Ababa to cover the conflict. His acerbic account of the intrigue and
political machinations leading up to the crisis is coupled with amusing
descriptions of the often bizarre and seldom straightforward life of a war
correspondent rubbing shoulders with less-than-honest officials, Arab
spies, pyjama-wearing radicals and disgruntled journalists. Witty, lucid
and penetrating, Evelyn Waugh captures the dilemmas and complexities of a
feudal society caught up in twentieth-century politics and confrontation.