Evelyn Waugh

"This trilogy of novels about World War II, largely based on his own experiences as an army officer, is the crowning achievement of Evelyn Waugh's career. Its central character is Guy Crouchback, head of an ancient but decayed Catholic family, who at first discovers new purpose in the challenge to defend Christian values against Nazi barbarism, but then gradually finds the complexities and cruelties of war too much for him" -- publisher website (August...

"Perhaps the funniest travel book ever written, Remote People begins with a vivid account of the coronation of Emperor Ras Tafari -- Haile Selassie I, King of Kings; an event covered by Evelyn Waugh in 1930 as special correspondent for The Times. It continues with subsequent travels in throughout Africa, where natives rub shoulders with eccentric expatriates; settlers with Arab traders and dignitaries with monks. Interspersing these colourful tales...

Stories by a British satirist. In The Man Who Liked Dickens, a man farming in the Amazon saves an explorer, then holds him captive to have him read Dickens to him, while in Out of Depth a magician at a London party sends an annoying guest to the 25th century.

During the 1930's, the world of the British uppercrust society is one of nightclubs, dancing, jazz and speed. Their lives revolve around an endless series of parties and pleasure seeking - including motorcars, jazz bands, gossip journalism, drugs, gramophones ... Inevitably, however, the frantic pace of living begins to take its toll and one by one they begin to crash and burn in the search for newer and faster sensations.