When Oxford-educated Emperor Seth succeeds to the throne of the African state of Azania, he has a tough job on his hands. His subjects are ill informed and unruly, and corruption, double-dealing and bloodshed are rife. However, with the aid of the Minister of Modernization, Basil Seal, Seth plans to introduce his people to the civilized ways of the West - but will it be as simple as that? "A comic novel, a novel of absurdities, conducted in a farcical world of double-cross and double-double-cross". Malcolm Bradbury