A fascinating book about the great expeditions of the British Empire into Sudan during the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Fascinating, possibly because I live in Khartoum not far from the former residence of General Gordon - now the presidential palace, but a great read for anyone interested in the machinery of Empire building. The book covers everything from the tragedy of the Hicks Pasha expedition through to the murder of General Gordon and the Kitchener Expedition that lead to the fall of the Mahdi ( )

A very readable history of the Mahdist period of Sudan, albeit written from the British point of view.

Asher knows Sudan and the Sudanese, as well as deserts, camels and the military, and is able to write with colour and insight.

He is very generous to those British officers whom he admires, but equally critical of the officer class in general. His warmest praise is reserved for the ordinary British soldiers - and their Sudanese and Egyptian allies under British officers and British training.

The beginning and end almost let the book down. I almost stopped reading it when I found 'screaming dervishes' on the second page. At the very end, perhaps in an attempt to make it relevant to today's post-9/11 world, he makes a couple of errors. Ja'afar Nimairi's regime was overthrown by intifada (popular uprising) in 1985, not by a coup in 1989. The 1989 coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Sadiq al-Mahdi, so it is unlikely that he was 'the power behind the coup', as Asher claims. Asher also states that Osama bin Laden made his home in Sudan from 1994 to 1998. I am ready to be corrected, but I believe he arrived earlier than that and left in 1996. Small but significant errors.

And the maps... I have rarely found a book that gives maps in the detail which I would like, and which show every single place mentioned in the text. These maps are no exception.

Edited to add: Rereading it in 2018 I was much more charitable. I wrote:

I found it very readable, a good narrative style, pretty good on detail, good maps. A very competent account of the entire campaign from Sheikan to Omdurman, with some interesting background.

Asher does a good job of presenting both sides fairly sympathetically (and, when needed, fairly caustically). His own knowledge, experience and understanding of Sudan, its peoples, its geography, its deserts, the Arabic language, the Nile, stands him in good stead. For example, he goes into far more detail about the cultural background of groups such as the Baggara and Beja than most writers do, and this sheds light on their behaviour in battle. He rejects the catch-all phrase "religious fanatics", and examines the multiple reasons why people joined the Mahdist movement (some as simple as self-preservation or profit) and the non-religious reasons why certain groups were fanatical warriors. On this re-reading of the book I gained more insights from him into the British military tactics of the time. Apparently the greatest compliment you could give a British regiment was that they were "steady".

I was interested by his argument that in the camel-mounted troops who spearheaded the march across the Bayuda Desert from Korti to Metemma, "the special forces concept had been born. It would be another thirty-two years before T.E. Lawrence developed modern guerrilla warfare, and another sixty before the special forces idea would come into its own" (p 169). ( )

A well written, informative and in many places better than fiction.

I have a passion for historical books but often find that many can read like school text books, not in this case though. The characters are well researched and fleshed out, you do care about what happens to them and in the end hope that they get there/get out in time.

If you have any interest in this period of history or just want to find out the truth behind the movie read this book. ( )