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