The Worst Date Ever

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The Worst Date Ever
The Worst Date Ever.jpg
Author Jane Bussmann
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Gonzo journalism, memoir
Published2009 (Macmillan)
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages371
ISBN 978-0-230-73712-9
OCLC 267172507
070.92
LC Class DT433.227 .B87 2009

The Worst Date Ever or How it Took a Comedy Writer to Expose Africa's Secret War is a memoir written by the British comedy writer Jane Bussmann. The book exposes the war crimes and corruption of the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government army using black humour [1] and gonzo journalism.

Contents

Overview

After becoming frustrated with celebrity culture, [2] [3] Bussmann became inspired by the American peace activist and conflict resolution expert John Prendergast. Bussmann traveled to Uganda and began investigating the war crimes of Joseph Kony. Part investigative journalism, part dark comedy and part romantic satire, the story is couched in the author's unrequited attempt to get a date with Prendergast. [4]

Reception

Reviewers consistently found the book to be truly funny, although some believed that her use of comedy in horrific situations was frequently inappropriate. [5]

In The New York Times, Daniel Bergner reported that John Prendergast enjoyed introducing himself to a person he spotted reading the book. [6]

Related Research Articles

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Practitioners sometimes use the terms "watchdog reporting" or "accountability reporting".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Kony</span> Leader of the Lords Resistance Army (born c. 1961)

Joseph Rao Kony is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments including the United Kingdom and United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Mayer</span> American journalist

Jane Meredith Mayer is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1995. She has written for the publication about money in politics; government prosecution of whistleblowers; the United States Predator drone program; Donald Trump's ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz; and Trump's financial backer, Robert Mercer. In 2016, Mayer's book Dark Money—in which she investigated the history of the conservative fundraising Koch brothers—was published to critical acclaim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Behar</span> American investigative journalist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stolen Valor</span> Book by B. G. Burkett, a Vietnam veteran

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Daniel Kalinaki is a Ugandan journalist working with the Nation Media Group as General Manager in Uganda in charge of Editorial. He was previously the Managing Editor, Regional Content. He is married with three children.

Julian Sher is a Canadian investigative journalist, filmmaker, author and newsroom trainer based in Montreal, Quebec. He was an investigative producer for ten years then a senior producer for five years with the CBC's The Fifth Estate. He has written extensively about outlaw motorcycle gangs, child abuse and the justice system.

Frederick Clarkson is an American journalist and public speaker in the fields of politics and religion. He is the author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy ; editor of Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America ; and co-author of Challenging the Christian Right: The Activist’s Handbook (1992) for which he and his co-author were named among the "Media Heroes of 1992" by the Institute for Alternative Journalism. They were described as "especially brave at taking on powerful institutions and persistent about getting stories out...journalists and activists who persevere in fighting censorship and protecting the First Amendment," and "understanding the Christian Right's recent strategy of stealth politics early on, and or doggedly tracking its activities across the U.S." He has also published articles with Salon.com, Ms. magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Public Eye, and other publications.

Jane Bussmann is an English comedian and author, who has written for television and radio. Her credits include The Fast Show, Smack the Pony, Brass Eye, Jam, South Park and Crackanory, as well as the radio series Bussmann and Quantick Kingsize with David Quantick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Prendergast (activist)</span> American human rights and anti-corruption activist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makombo massacre</span> 2009 massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo

The Makombo massacre took place from 14 to 17 December 2009 in the Haut-Uele District of Democratic Republic of the Congo in the village and region of Makombo. Human Rights Watch (HRW) believes the attacks, which killed 321 people, were perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which denied responsibility.

<i>The Enough Moment</i> 2007 book by John Prendergast and Don Cheadle

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Ricardo Uceda Pérez is a Peruvian journalist notable for his award-winning coverage of military and government corruption.

Wendy Ruderman is an American journalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. She won with Barbara Laker the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. Ruderman, along with Inquirer colleagues Barbara Laker and Dylan Purcell, was named a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer for local reporting for “Toxic City: Sick Schools,” which examined how environmental hazards in Philadelphia schools deprive children of healthy spaces to learn and grow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Callum Macrae</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josy Joseph</span> Indian writer and journalist

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Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire is a 2010 book by Robert Perkinson, published by Metropolitan Books.

Deborah Nelson is a Pulitzer prize-winning freelance journalist at Reuters and the Associate Professor of Investigative Reporting at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Dick Lehr is an American author, journalist and a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is known for co-authoring The New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI and a Devil's Deal, and its sequel, Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss with fellow journalist Gerard O'Neill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Allimadi</span> Ugandan-American author, professor, journalist and newspaper founder

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References

  1. Wrong, Michela (18 July 2009). "Black humour". The Spectator . Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  2. Donaldson, Andrew (13 September 2010). "Beg, borrow or buy this book". The Times . South Africa.
  3. Lui, Elaine. "Intro for Sep 04, 2009". Lainey Gossip.
  4. Long, Camilla (12 July 2009). "The Worst Date Ever: War Crimes, Hollywood Heart-throbs and Other Abominations by Jane Bussmann". The Sunday Times . London. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011.
  5. Sherine, Ariane (25 July 2009). "Bussmann's holiday". The Observer . London.
  6. Bergner, Daniel (2 December 2010). "Attention-Grabber for Sudan's Cause". The New York Times .