Book description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2013
'Dazzling' Sunday Times
'Magnificent' Guardian
'Sparkling' Daily Telegraph
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.
On…
Why read it?
1 author picked Return of a King as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Did the British learn anything from Napoleon’s fatal retreat from Moscow in 1812? Exactly three decades later the greatest debacle in British military history occurred in Afghanistan, the graveyard of conquerors. William Dalrymple serves up a satisfying slice of history, complete with spies, counter-espionage, intrigue, hubris, and folly, and provides context for the emergence of the Taliban. The wise will heed the timeless saying, “The only time Pashtuns stop fighting, is when they go to war.”
From Grant's list on Afghanistan and life in the land of the Taliban.
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