William Dalrymple's books include several works of history and travel, including
City of Djinns, which won the Young British Writer of
the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; the best-selling
From the Holy Mountain;
White Mughals, which won Britain’s most prestigious history prize, the Wolfson; and
The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. His new book is
Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42.
One entry on
Dalrymple's top ten list of books on Afghanistan, as told to the
Guardian:
Taliban and Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid
Ahmed Rashid, a fearless reporter and authority on the politics of Afghanistan, came to world attention after 9/11 when his book Taliban was recognized to be virtually the only 
serious book on the regime that had given shelter to al-Qaida. As a result it quickly sold nearly 1.5m copies in 26 languages. Its sequel, the brilliant and passionate Descent into Chaos emphasises the degree to which "the US-led war on terrorism has left in its wake a far more dangerous world than existed on that momentous day in 2001… Afghanistan is now staring down the abyss of state collapse, despite billions of dollars of aid, 45,000 Western troops, and the deaths of thousands of people. The Taliban has made a dramatic comeback… The international community had an extended window of opportunity of several years to help the Afghan people– they failed to take advantage of it."
Read about
another book on the list.
Descent into Chaos is one of
Thomas Barfield's five best books on Afghanistan.
--Marshal Zeringue
the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; the best-selling From the Holy Mountain; White Mughals, which won Britain’s most prestigious history prize, the Wolfson; and The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. His new book is Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42.
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