by Evelyn Waugh
First published 2012
Lord Copper runs the Daily Beast and believes he can spot talented reporters. At a dinner party, Mrs. Algernon Stitch mentions someone who might make an excellent war correspondent. Copper takes her advice and dispatches what he thinks is the perfect candidate to cover an emerging conflict in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. But Copper has made a significant error. He has sent the wrong person entirely. The mix-up launches a chain of events that exposes the frantic world of newspaper journalism and the absurd lengths reporters will go to chase a story. Waugh transforms this case of mistaken identity into a sharp-edged comedy that skewers the news industry's obsession with sensational headlines and scoops.
Genres: fiction, satire, literary-fiction, 20th-century, comedy, journalism
Vibes: sharp-edged, thought-provoking, witty
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, mistaken-identity
Setting: Africa, Ishmaelia
Period: 20th-century
ebook · Little Brown and Company