The return of a king : the battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 /

Dalrymple, William

The return of a king : the battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 / William Dalrymple - First Edition - New York, Alfred A. Knopf, ©2013 - xxix, 515 pages : some color illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-497) and index

No easy place to rule -- An unsettled mind -- The great game begins -- The mouth of hell -- The flag of holy war -- We fail from our ignorance -- All order is at an end -- The wail of bugles -- The death of a king -- A war for no wise purpose

Examines the mid-19th-century Afghan war as a tragic result of neocolonial ambition, cultural collision and hubris, drawing on previously untapped primary sources to explore such topics as the reestablishment of a puppet-leader Shah, the conflict's brutal human toll and the similarities between the war and present-day challenges

9780307958280 0307958280 9781408818305 1408818302 9781408822876 1408822873

2012040998


Shāh Shujāʻ, Amir of Afghanistan, 1780?-1842


British--History--Afghanistan--19th century


Afghanistan--History--British Intervention, 1838-1842
Afghanistan--History, Military--19th century

DS359.7 / .D35 2013

ARCH FRBC 958.103 D151R