Scoop
A nature columnist is sent by mistake to cover a foreign war, and somehow gets the scoop.
Evelyn Waugh’s 1938 satire of Fleet Street. William Boot, who writes a nature column for the Daily Beast from his family’s crumbling country house, is sent by mistake to cover a war in the African state of Ishmaelia. Knowing nothing of foreign reporting, he stumbles into the story of the year. Waugh drew on his own time as a correspondent in Abyssinia.
Recommended by 2 People
Michael Palin
The story of a writer sent abroad by mistake to cover a war in Africa makes for a dark and funny look at the power and incompetence of press barons. Some very fine travel writing adds another level to its appeal.
Article · September 2013
M. C. Beaton
Before I worked for the Daily Express I thought Scoop was a marvellous work of fiction. Then I found it wasn’t that far from the truth.
Interview · December 2010
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