The siege of Malakand was Winston Churchill's first experience of actual combat, which he later described in several columns for "The Daily Telegraph", receiving £5 per column; these articles were eventually compiled into his first published book, "The Story of the Malakand Field Force", beginning his career as a writer and politician. Of the book's publication he remarked, " will certainly be the most noteworthy act of my life. Up to date (of course). By its reception I shall measure the chances of my possible success in the world." Of the siege of Malakand, and of the entire campaign against the Pashtun tribes in northern India, Churchill remarked that they were a period of significant "transition".