About the Author

One of the most famous political figures of the twentieth century, Sir Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) was also a well-known historian, biographer, and writer. Among his many books are A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (in four volumes), The World Crisis, 1916-1918 (two volumes), and The Second World War (six volumes).

Reviews

“…a towering work of scholarship and one of the most remarkable books to appear in many, many years.”
—Andrew Roberts in The Wall Street Journal
 

“Students of the thought and action of Winston Churchill, the preeminent statesman of the twentieth century, have reason to be grateful for James W. Muller’s Herculean efforts to make the original version of The River War available again. We discover a young soldier and writer who was a philosophically-inclined historian recounting great battles but also thinking about the enduring problems of war, empire, race, and freedom. The tyrannically-minded will be tempted to censor and cancel Churchill’s challenging insights. But the reader who opens himself to Churchill’s monumental work will discover a partisan of Western civilization who can admire the immense courage of the Sudanese Dervishes and who criticizes, like Burke and Macaulay before him, the excesses of empire shorn of mercy and restraint.”
—Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair, Assumption University 

“There is always more to learn from Winston Churchill. James W. Muller’s carefully edited version of The River War gives today’s readers a chance to read Churchill’s eyewitness account, written at age twenty-four, of one of the world’s last cavalry battles at Omdurman in 1898, and his chilling look ahead to the twentieth century and the potentials of Muslim fanaticism.”
—Michael Barone,  Founding co-author, The Almanac of American Politics

“To read The River War is to enter the mind of a brilliant, seemingly fearless young man destined to become one of history’s most unforgettable figures. Until now, however, it has been difficult even to find, let alone to own, an unabridged edition and to read Winston Churchill’s story as he intended to tell it. James W. Muller has not only given readers the original, two-volume book, carefully, thoroughly, and thoughtfully edited, but has written a deeply insightful introduction that adds immeasurable value to a treasured piece of history.”
—Candice Millard, Author of Hero of the Empire

“This book sets a new standard for Churchill scholarship and in doing so tells us much about how Churchill used his words and actions to launch his career.”
—Allen Packwood, Director, Churchill Archives Centre

“I have waited thirty years to hold these volumes in my hands, and it has been well worth the wait. Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and readers of these volumes will see why. Among Churchill’s books, The River War is in penetration, grandeur, and verve second only to Marlborough: His Life and Times. Now, thanks to Jim Muller’s critical edition, we have the original with its maps and illustrations; notes identifying nearly everyone mentioned in the text; a clear indication of everything the author subsequently dropped, and everything he added to the later, abbreviated editions; and the newspaper articles in draft and as published on which it was based. These volumes are a triumph.”
—Paul A. Rahe, Charles & Louise Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, Hillsdale College