CHAIN OF FIRE, campaigning in Egypt and the Sudan, 1882-98

444pp., b/w & colour illus., maps, paperback, Reprint, Profile Books, London, (2025) 2026

ISBN: 9781800810747

This account of the siege of Khartoum and Britain's extraordinarily bloody 1882 campaign in Egypt and Sudan examines the terrible desert wars using the testimonies of the men who fought there.

“Hart superbly depicts these months of brutal combat in all their complexity.” The New York Times Book Review

“Here is a marvelous, ghastly book. What makes Mr Hart's version so bracing is his method. He is a specialist in oral history at London's Imperial War Museum, and this book, like others he has written or co-written, gains richness and texture from the use of first-hand testimony.” The Economist

Peter Hart was the oral historian of the Imperial War Museum in London for nearly 40 years. His books include Footsloggers, At Close Range and The Last Battle.