Islamism – or political Islam, the movement to infuse Islam in all areas of life – is hardly a 21st century phenomenon. Winston S. Churchill was a young second lieutenant and war correspondent when he participated in 1898 in the Battle of Omdurman, which retook Sudanese territory that Mahdists had dominated for more than 13 years in their quest to establish an Islamic empire. He published an account of the Mahdist rebellion and reconquest of the Sudan in his book The River War, in which Churchill showed sympathy for Muslim rebels but also warned against what he saw as the dangers of political Islam.

James W. Muller, a University of Alaska, Anchorage, professor and academic chairman of the Chicago-based Churchill Centre, discusses the great British statesman’s reflections on empire, war, race, and religion.

Co-sponsored by the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri.