Gordon in Khartum to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells
the story of the many gallant fights, the wearying failures, the
many expeditions into the hot, boundless desert, the long, slow
progress toward the final winning of the Sudan.

The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would
expect from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in
Egypt, he laid down his sword to pen the story of his life's work.
From a Second Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long
enough to gain the desert tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution
to military history it was so valuable that for the author it made
many admirers, but on account of his criticisms of his superior
officers it gained him even more enemies.

This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army
officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy:

"General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for
others. He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers,
whose salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whom he
rigidly controlled. The comrade who had served with him and
under him for many years, in peace and peril, was flung aside as
soon as he ceased to be of use. The wounded Egyptian and even
the wounded British soldier did not excite his interest."

When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each
other their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to
their own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a
lieutenant of twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general
the army is going to the dogs.