Churchill -- long before his political career leading the free world against Germany in World War II -- wrangled his way into Kitchener's campaign up the Nile. He recounts the rise of the Mahdi, the defeat of Gordon at Khartoum, and the use of "scientific warfare"-- a combination of telegraph, railroad, armored steamboats, and the new Maxim Gun, combined with the discipline of the British Army -- to ultimately win a British victory. A fascinating account of the earliest days of modern warfare, many lessons can be learned from The River War. "Churchill wrote this account of the campaign at Omdurman in Arabia in 1899 when he was still soldiering for the queen. It was his first major historical work and is still considered one of his most riveting." -- Library Journal