The return of a king
by William Dalrymple · first published 2013
5mentions
4recommended by
5HN commenters
2015–2026first – last mentioned
80% recommend20% neutral
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.
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…interesting, you would love the Empire Podcast... I believe they talk about Emily in the episode on Afghanistan (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/79-invading-afghanista...); Dalrymple's book on the subject (Return of a King, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_a_King) is also a masterfully well researched, delightful read.
on “An Englishwoman who sketched India before photography took hold” ↗Return of a King (William Dalrymple 2013) - A book about the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century. To paraphrase Mark Twain: History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes Being Mortal (Atul Gawande, 2014) - Powerful book about…
on “Ask HN: Best books you've read in 2015” ↗…during the first Afghan War, I can highly recommend: 1) Maybe the best-researched, most vivid, and most comprehensive overall telling of the before, during and after of the First Afghan War: the book Return of a King, by Dalrymple. It incorporates a lot of surprisingly-recently-translated documents from libraries in modern-day Pakistan, which became more interesting to historians post-2001. 2) A personal story, that…
on “Kilt for Hire” ↗Yup, that podcast is incredible and, although it’s hard to pick his best book, ‘Return of a King’ is astonishing.
on “Garum Masala: trade between ancient Rome and India” ↗Only this evening I was listening to Tim Hartford's Cautionary Tales podcast episode which refers to the book The Return of a King. It's a really good episode - https://timharford.com/2021/04/cautionary-tales-masterly-ina...
on “A trailblazing archeologist who faked his own death” ↗