Here Sir Winston S. Churchill -- the same man who would go on to lead the free world through its darkest hours during the second world war -- tells the tale of the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of the Sudan. It isn't just an account of the battles and the politics; it's the story of the destiny of the people of the region: Churchill with his powerful insight tells how the war changed the fates of England, Egypt, and the Arabian peoples in northeast Africa. In vivid style the book describes the background to the war, the relationship of the Upper Nile to Egypt, the murder of General Charles...

While I was attached to the Malakand Field Force I wrote a series of letters for the London Daily Telegraph. The favorable manner in which these letters were received, encouraged me to attempt a more substantial work. This volume is the result. The original letters have been broken up, and I have freely availed myself of all passages, phrases, and facts, that seemed appropriate. The views they contained have not been altered, though several opinions and expressions, which seemed mild in the invigorating atmosphere of a camp, have been modified, to suit the more temperate climate...

From the author's introduction: -The stir and tumult of a camp do not favor calm or sustained thought, and whatever is written herein must be regarded simply as the immediate effect produced by men powerfully moved, and scenes swiftly changing upon what I hope is a truth-seeking mind.- He described his impressions of the Boer army when he first saw it, as a recently taken captive: What men they were, these Boers I thought of them as I had seen them in the morning riding forward through the rain--thousands of independent riflemen, thinking for themselves, possessed of beautiful weapons,...