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Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present
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About Afghanistan: A History From 1260 To The Present
Product Description Located at the intersection of Asia and the Middle East, Afghanistan has been strategically important for thousands of years. Its ancient routes and strategic position between India, Inner Asia, China, Persia, and beyond has meant the region has been subject to frequent invasions, both peaceful and military. As a result, modern Afghanistan is a culturally and ethnically diverse country, but one divided by conflict, political instability, and by mass displacements of its people. In this magisterial illustrated history, Jonathan L. Lee tells the story of how a small tribal confederacy in a politically and culturally significant but volatile region became a modern nation state. Drawing on more than forty years of study, Lee places the current conflict in Afghanistan in its historical context and challenges many of the West’s preconceived ideas about the country. Focusing particularly on the powerful Durrani monarchy, which united the country in 1747 and ruled for nearly two and a half centuries, Lee chronicles the origins of the dynasty as clients of Safavid Persia and Mughal India: the reign of each ruler and their efforts to balance tribal, ethnic, regional, and religious factions; the struggle for social and constitutional reform; and the rise of Islamic and Communist factions. Along the way he offers new cultural and political insights from Persian histories, the memoirs of Afghan government officials, British government and India Office archives, and recently released CIA reports and Wikileaks documents. He also sheds new light on the country’s foreign relations, its internal power struggles, and the impact of foreign military interventions such as the “War on Terror.” Review "A comprehensive history of a storied nation held together by an alliance of tribal and political groups that threatens to dissolve at any moment. . . . Anyone seeking to understand a complex, even bewildering part of the world will benefit from Lee’s careful account." ― Kirkus Reviews "The task of crafting a coherent narrative out of such disparate material, much less making that narrative of genuine interest, is obviously daunting, and one of the many low-key marvels of this book is how often Lee manages to succeed. This has every indication of being the twenty-first century’s standard English-language history of Afghanistan: it’s richly detailed but not simplified, keeping up a fast pace without ever sacrificing fine-grained detail, fit to occupy the same shelf as Abbas Amanat’s magisterial 2017 history of Iran . . . Afghanistan is a parade of richly-realized personalities: sultans, colonial opportunists, visionaries, and the embattled present government figures are all presented here with a startlingly refreshing humanity." ― National "An exhausting march. . . . Lee has spent a lifetime studying this troubled region, and his account of Afghanistan’s history is almost dizzying in its power shifts and conflicts. . . . [An] epic story." ― Washington Independent Review of Books "Lee’s well-written book is rich in rewarding detail and will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Afghanistan." ― History Today "Lee’s scholarship and independence of mind give rise to one of the first great merits of the book: its willingness to challenge conventional narrative. . . . The second great merit of this book, beyond its fresh perspectives, is the depth of coverage it offers, whilst yet being written in clear prose and digestible sections. Lee is an excellent guide through a notoriously complex historical territory." ― Asian Affairs "Lee has blended an eye for detail with a sense of the broad sweep of Afghanistan's history. . . . Lee does not make the mistake of assuming a linearity in Afghan history, and the stories he recounts do not serve to suggest that the key to understanding the twenty-first century is simply to revisit the experiences of earlier times. But that said, the book is stu
