Episode 95. The River War: James Muller

About this episode

James Muller returns to discuss Winston Churchill's role in the River War and his new edition of Churchill's work.

In Episodes 10 and 11 of the Science History Podcast, I interviewed James Muller on the role that Winston Churchill played in the unparalleled advancement of science and technology during the first half of the 20th Century, particularly as it related to the two world wars. In today's episode, Jim returns to discuss Churchill and an earlier war fought in the Sudan at the end of the 19th Century. Jim is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Anchorage and one of the world’s foremost authorities on Churchill. For more than a quarter century, Jim has chaired the Board of Academic Advisers of the International Churchill Society. He is the author of many works on Churchill, including edited and scholarly reprintings of Churchill's interwar books Thoughts and Adventures and Great Contemporaries. Today we discuss his remarkable new edition of the two-volume Churchill book The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, published in 2021 by St. Augustine's Press, which won the Churchill Literary Award from the International Churchill Society. St. Augustine's Press also published Jim's 2024 scholarly edition of Churchill's book My Early Life, A Roving…

People in this episode

Guest: James Muller

Topics covered

• Winston Churchill
• James Muller
• The River War
• science and technology
• Sudan
• historical accounts

Keywords

• James Muller
• Winston Churchill
• The River War
• International Churchill Society
• historical account
• science and technology
• Sudan

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Alaska Anchorage, International Churchill Society, St. Augustine's Press, Churchill Literary Award

Books & works: The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, My Early Life, A Roving Commission

More episodes of Science History Podcast

• Episode 102. Chemicals & Children's Health: Tracey Woodruff · May 14, 2026 · 1h 21m
• Episode 101. Longitude: Emily Akkermans · April 10, 2026 · 1h 23m
• Episode 100. Bohr's Legacy: Tomas Bohr · March 11, 2026 · 1h 53m
• Episode 99. Rapa Nui's Collapse: Mike Pitts · February 11, 2026 · 1h 55m
• Episode 98. Retrospective: Tom Lehrer's Mathematics · January 10, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Episode 97. Forever Chemicals: Sharon Udasin · December 10, 2025 · 57 min