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Words & ReflectionsWords & ReflectionsForeign Correspondence: Old Practices Inform New Realities‘Evelyn Waugh’s book can’t be read without thinking of today’s wars and how reporters cover them.’Waugh in AbyssiniaEvelyn WaughLouisiana State University Press. 288 Pages. $18.95 pb.By Cameron McWhirterEvelyn Waugh endeared himself to generationsof journalists with “Scoop,”his comic trashing of foreign warcorrespondents. His main character,William Boot, and his episodes in theimaginary African kingdom of Ishmaeliahave become touchstones for reportersgrappling with the more ludicrousaspects of their craft, whether they areworking the cop beat or Baghdad. Atsome point in our careers, we all haveworked for “The Daily Beast.”Now comes an ugly truth. Waughwrote so perfectly about bad journalismbecause he was a bad journalisthimself. He was biased. He was lazy.He made snap judgments and stuckto them, unwilling to explore the truemotivations of the people about whomhe wrote. He didn’t seem to really carethat much about what he was covering,even something as profound andtragic as a war. Decades after “Scoop”entered the canon of fiction about ourbruised profession, Louisiana StateUniversity (LSU) has reissued Waugh’snonfiction twin to his famous novel,the long-forgotten “Waugh in Abyssinia.”The book is the first in LSU’s“From Our Own Correspondent”series of out-of-print books and neverpublished manuscripts by foreign correspondents.First published in 1936,right after Italy’s successful conquestof Ethiopia, “Waugh in Abyssinia” isequal parts reportage, history, politicalanalysis, and travelogue. This forgottenbook provides great insight intoforeign news coverage during Waugh’stime and raises questions about suchreporting today.The war between fascist Italy andHaile Selassie’s Ethiopia in 1935 and1936 was a calamity, one of severalcrises that set the stage for the comingSecond World War. Among otherhorrors, the Italians used mustardgas against their ill-equipped enemyin violation of international treaties.Yet Waugh demonstrates that none ofthe journalists sent to cover the war,least of all Waugh himself, had anyreal idea what was going on. In lieuof facts, which Waugh appears to haveonly half-heartedly attempted to collect,his personal prejudices dominatethe book.For Waugh, the Italo-EthiopianWar was more about his own lack ofcreature comforts than armies clashing.He never once saw a shot fired incombat. He spent most of his time inthe Ethiopian capital instead of at thefront. He only visited the Italian Armyafter it had controlled Ethiopia formonths. A reader gets the impressionthat if the Ethiopians provided betterhotel accommodations, he would havewritten a more favorable book.The biggest problem modern readerswill have, as did many British readersat the time it was published, is thatWaugh backed the fascists. “Waugh inAbyssinia” would have, and probablydid, make Mussolini smile. Waugh unabashedlyembraced an imperial viewthat reeks of racist arrogance. Takethis example from page 25: “Howeversordid the motives and however grossthe means by which the white racesestablished—and are still establishing—themselvesin Africa, the resulthas been, in the main, beneficial, forthere are more good men than bad inEurope, and there is a predispositiontowards justice and charity in Europeanculture; a bias, so that it cannotfor long run free without inclining togood; things which began wickedlyhave turned out well.”These lines were written only twoyears before the Nazi Kristallnacht andonly four years before the eruptionof a European war that would engulf92 Nieman Reports / Fall 2007