"This is the ... story of a remarkable episode in the 'High Empire' period of British history. The Mahdi's rising in the Sudan in the 1880s, which started as a localized holy war against the 'decadent' Turkish/Egyptian overlords, was soon to engulf a million square miles of arid territory and force the hand of the British Liberal Government ... The narrative makes full use of diaries and first-hand reports, including those of celebrated novelist Rider Haggard's brother Andrew and of Father Ohrwalder (the Austrian missionary who spent ten years of captivity in the Mahdi's camp). These ... describe the growth and strength of the Mahdist movement and the extraordinary devotion and discipline of the Dervish troops"--Jacket.