{"product_id":"return-of-a-king-the-battle-for-afghanistan-1839-42-9780307948533","title":"Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of the Year: \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1839, nearly 20,000 British troops poured through the mountain passes into Afghanistan and installed the exiled Shah Shuja on the throne as their puppet. But after little more than two years, the Afghans exploded into rebellion. The British were forced to retreat--and were then ambushed in the mountains by simply-equipped Afghan tribesmen. Just one British man made it through. But Dalrymple takes us beyond the story of this colonial humiliation and illuminates the key connections between then and now. Shah Shuja and President Hamid Karzai share the same tribal heritage; the Shah's principal opponents were the Ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban's foot soldiers. Dalrymple explains the byzantine complexity of Afghanistan's age-old tribal rivalries, their stranglehold on politics, and how they ensnared both the British of the nineteenth century and NATO forces today. Rich with newly discovered primary sources, this stunning narrative is the definitive account of the first battle for Afghanistan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Dalrymple is the author of seven previous works of history and travel, including \u003ci\u003eCity of Djinns, \u003c\/i\u003e which won the Young British Writer of the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; \u003ci\u003eFrom the Holy Mountain;\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhite Mughals, \u003c\/i\u003e which won Britain's Wolfson History Prize; and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Mughal, \u003c\/i\u003e which won the Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. He is a contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker. \u003c\/i\u003eHe divides his time between New Delhi and London.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51260192555282,"sku":"9780307948533","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8638d287-2fac-4b40-b40e-7ab403850b49.jpg?v=1746639150","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/return-of-a-king-the-battle-for-afghanistan-1839-42-9780307948533","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}