eBook - ePub

The Man Who Would Be King

Name: The Man Who Would Be King
ISBN: 9781466803794

The First American in Afghanistan

Ben Macintyre,

377 pages
English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

The Man Who Would Be King

The First American in Afghanistan

Ben Macintyre,

About this book

The untold story of the nineteenth-century American Quaker who tried to build a kingdom in Afghanistan: "A thrilling real-life yarn." — Booklist
In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great.
The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries. This "riveting, scrupulously researched" book reveals the full history behind the renowned Rudyard Kipling short story and John Huston's film classic ( The New York Times Book Review).
"One of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of biography." — The New York Review of Books
"Macintyre recounts Harlan's travels with dispatch, and draws on unpublished journals to let his subject's voice seep through." — The New Yorker
"Here is a writer who seems as taken as I am with crackpottery, delusion, grandiosity, chicanery, and impersonation, but who manages to write about it all with amused restraint, without, that is, the air of the ogler." — The Boston Globe
"Macintyre gives readers both Harlan's story and a thought-provoking perspective on the history of superpower intervention in Afghanistan . . . Harlan's story alone is fascinating, but its resonance with modern-day struggles—Harlan urging the British to try 'fiscal diplomacy' (i.e., gold) instead of 'invading and subjugating an unoffending people'—makes it compelling." — Publishers Weekly

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Yes, you can access The Man Who Would Be King by Ben Macintyre in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Historical Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.