The coup

Nothing in his previous life could have prepared Colonel Hakim Felix Ellellou for his new role as the President of Kush. Neither the French army nor his American university provided a grounding in the subtle skills of revolutionary dictatorship. Still less did they expect him to acquire four wives... The Delicate, Empty Land Of Kush Is Ruled Over By Colonel Hakim Félix Ellelloû, An Outrageous Dictator. As His Drought-ravaged African State Teeters Precariously Between Soviet Aid And American Intervention, Between Tragedy And Farce, The Colonel Tells His Story. John Updike. Not In De Bellis & Broomfield. Originally Published: New York: Knopf, 1978; London: Deutsch, 1979.