Scoop by Waugh

Although considered by the Observer as a near masterpiece, Scoop is a short, light and very broad satire of the British newspaper industry, british foreign policy and African kleptocracies that European nations compete for and maintain. The decline of the newspaper industry and European influence in Africa has lessened the force of Waugh's satire considerably. Lampooning the mighty has a fine tradition; send-ups of the once mighty pack lees force. In addition, sixty years of sad post-colonial history makes Waugh's satire of the government of Ishmealia (Waugh's fictional African state based losely on Abyssinia) less funny too. The characters are less well etched than those in Waugh's other novels, and its tough to care too much about most of the novel's parade of cartoons. in particular, many of the puns embedded in the characters names are easy to miss for the modern American reader. But it is a fun, light, short read if one is in the mood for something highly satirical.