The River War

Nearly 100 years ago -- in 1898 -- the British sent an expeditionary force under General Kitchener to the Sudan to avenge General Gordon and put down a rebellion led by the Khalifa Abdullah. Kitchener's army closed with Abdullah at Omdurman; the results were an early version of Desert Storm.

Riding in Kitchener's calvary was a young subaltern, Winston Churchill, who had come to write as well as fight. Even at a young age Churchill exuded authority, and this book, which made him famous, has become a classic.