I thought I’d dabble in some real history again today. These are also long, but it is a Saturday. Also, this is advertising to some extent: I am not getting any compensation for this, but I like the idea, and heartily endorse this product and/or event.
When war broke out in Sudan towards the end of the 19th century, Winston Churchill wanted to be there. He managed to get himself attached to the 21st Lancers: he also managed to get himself a contract to write articles about the war for one of the newspapers.
In 1899, Churchill published The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, his second book. The original edition was an elaborately put together and illustrated two-volume set.
After becoming a member of Parliament, Churchill edited it down to one volume (and removed much of his criticism of senior officers, especially General Kitchener), and subsequent reprints have pretty much been based on the one volume abridged edition. The original two-volume edition is very rare.
“Lessons from Churchill’s ‘The River War'”, a lecture at Hillsdale College by Dr. James W. Muller .
Longer bonus: this is only a few days old, too. Dr. Muller at America’s National Churchill Museum. “Churchill This Day #7: The River War: Churchill at War on the Nile”.
The advertising portion of this: Dr. Muller has been working on a new, two volume, unabridged and annotated edition of The River War. It is currently available for pre-order from Chartwell Booksellers, the Churchill specialty bookstore (who are very nice folks), with an estimated shipping date of early to mid-June.