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Start giftingAfghanistan
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Learn moreFor over 2,500 years, the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads not only for armies but also for clashes between civilizations. As the United States engages in armed conflict with the Afghan regime, an understanding of the military history of that blood-soaked land has become essential to every American.
Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan on his way to India. Later, because of its strategic location with the Silk Road passing through it, Afghanistan was invaded by Arabs, Mongols, and Tartars. Great Britain tried—and failed—to add Afghanistan to its Indian empire, while Russia tried to expand into the same embattled land. Afghanistan once again fought and defeated a secular government in the face of rising Islamic resistance. Now, America faces a new enemy on this land that has become, over the centuries, the graveyard of empires past.
Stephen Tanner is a military historian. He served with US special forces in Italy in World War II and, following his graduation from Yale University, in the US Department of State from 1949 to 1969. He is the author of Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban, Epic Retreats: From 1776 to the Evacuation of Saigon, and Refuge from the Reich.
Raymond Todd is an actor and director in the theater as well as a poet and documentary filmmaker. He plays jazz trombone for the Leatherstocking quartet, an ensemble that gets its name from one of his favorite Blackstone narrations, The Deerslayer. Todd lives in New York.
Reviews
“Recounts with brisk authority and many illuminating analogies…This is a noteworthy and valuable book.”
“Filled with remarkable scholarship…Raymond Todd handles the names of the many nationalities, locations, and individuals well.”
“The narrative is engrossing, flowing, informative, intriguing, well researched, and, most importantly, timely…This book is compelling both as an outstanding historical narrative but also as an essential work in helping Western readers understand…the Afghani people. Expertly read by Raymond Todd.”
“Interesting, informative, and thought-provoking.”
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