Return of a King

The Battle for Afghanistan

By: William Dalrymple

Narrated by: Sagar Arya

Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Return of a King by William Dalrymple, read by Sagar Arya.

Shortlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize 2013

In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.

On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen.

Using a range of forgotten Afghan and Indian sources, William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful parable of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris. Return of a King is history at its most urgent and important.

©2013 William Dalrymple (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"This sorry saga has been recounted many times, but never that I can recall as well as by Dalrymple. He is a master story-teller, whose special gift lies in the use of indigenous sources, so often neglected by imperial chroniclers." (Max Hastings, Sunday Times)

"Enchantingly written.... In Dalrymple’s usual happy style of historical narrative, applied to a fascinating, neat and highly suggestive series of events, this long and involved book will be a great success, and bring the famous story to a large new audience." (Philip Hensher, Spectator)

"Of the books swooped into being by his scholarship (to which he himself has applied the adjective 'obsessive'), this one is the most magnificent.... His account is so perceptive and so warmly humane that one is never tempted to break away.... This book would be compulsive reading even if it were not a uniquely valuable history, which it is, because Dalrymple has uncovered sources never used before." (Diana Athill, Guardian)

OUTSTANDING

I highly recommend listening.
This book is so well written and narrated.
The story kept me spellbound.
Considering the world politics, it is very important to read this history of Afghanistan.
My thanks to all involved for making this book available, JK.

Great book about the origins of the Great Game

The story is a page turner and the reading spirited and a good match to the story.

Interesting and insightful

Starts a bit slow but if you persevere past the first chapter or two you’ll be rewarded. Also, having the book narrated by an Indian (with a marked subcontinental accent) throws in an interesting flavour of near criticism of the English even when there is none intended by the British author.

Sagar Arya is amazing! And this story needs to be heard.

This book is mindblowing. And the presentation is masterful, to say the least. I want to hear more!

Tragic story excellently told

It took me just a bit to get into it, but once I did I couldn't wait to listen again. I knew the basics but the details of the first Anglo Afghan war are fascinating, complex, tragic, and incredibly interesting.

As a side note, stay for the research acknowledgements at the end. It not only shines a light on the extent of Dalrymple's thoroughness but also illustrates how dangerous the area remains.

Well documented but not dreary.

I listened to this book during the last days of the latest western occupation of Afghanistan which made the experience particularly poignant.
Listening the book the numerous mistakes made by the British in the nineteenth century seemed so similar to those made in the twenty first that it was depressing.
Still it is a book well worth listening too, because it manages to be informative without being boring thanks also to a sapient use of the fonts which, at times, are frankly amusing.

Wonderful story from every aspect

I liked everything about this book except for some performance issues like sudden interruptions which caused the listener to lose the track of story. Otherwise everything has been fascinating.

unmatched

The best book I've read out of many about the First Anglo Afghan War. Very applicable to the American war in Afghanistan. Must read for any politician regardless of country who might have interest in an occupation of Afghanistan

Read the hard copy

I could not get past the readers dramatic approach here. This is a dense, rich and riveting history and his actorly approach to it was distracting and frankly irritating to me, to the point that I gave up after 13 hours and went out to buy the book. The hard copy of the book is supplemented with helpful maps and other resources (dramatis personae and terminology) that I found very helpful, and Dalrymple’s writing is just an absolute rip-snorting adventure. So, highly recommend the book but NOT this audiobook.

Learned a lot about Afghanistan’s history

I always love to know about the history of different countries and relate it to the present situation. In case of Afghanistan it was fascinating to learn historical events and kudos to the hard work of the author and all who contributed.
If you like history you will love listening to this book and can relate it to the present fate of the country.