Praise for William Dalrymple's
Return of a King "Brilliant. . . . The fullest and most powerful description of the West's first encounter with Afghan society." –
The New York Times Book Review "Magnificent. . . . [Dalrymple's] histories read like novels. . . . This latest book delights and shocks." –
The Wall Street Journal "Masterful. . . . Dalrymple makes an important contribution by including recently discovered Afghan accounts of the war." –
The Washington Post "At once deeply researched and beautifully paced,
Return of a King should win every prize for which it's eligible." –
Bookforum "With skill and deep humanity, Dalrymple seeks contemporary lessons in Britain's disastrous nineteenth-century invasion." –
The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
"A serious work of history that expands our understanding of the war of 1839-42 by drawing on sources found in Russia, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, many never before translated into English." –
Newsday
"Arguably the most important work in Dalrymple's impressive oeuvre. . . . If context is important, reading Dalrymple is paramount." –
The Sunday Guardian (London)
"A masterful history. . . . And as the latest occupying force in Afghanistan negotiates its exit, this chronicle seems all too relevant now." –
The Economist
"In
Return of a King, Dalrymple has done again what he did magnificently for two other telling episodes of British imperial history in
White Mughals (2002) and
The Last Mughal (2006). . . . Dalrymple has a narrative gift." –
The Huffington Post
"A thrilling, amusing and educational three-track tour de force, relevant to today and even the immediate future." –
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Definitive. . . .
Return of a King is not just a riveting account of one imperial disaster on the roof of the world; it teaches unforgettable lessons about the perils of neocolonial adventures everywhere." –
Literary Review
"A major contribution to the historiography of south-west Asia and of the British empire. . . .
Return of a King will come to be seen as the definitive account of the first and most disastrous western attempt to invade Afghanistan." –
New Statesman
"Complex and remarkable. . . . As taut and richly embroidered as a great novel. . . . This book is a masterpiece of nuanced writing and research, and a thrilling account of a watershed Victorian conflict." –
The Sunday Telegraph (London)
"[Dalrymple] is a master storyteller, whose special gift lies in the use of indigenous sources, so often neglected by imperial chroniclers. . . . Almost every page of Dalrymple's splendid narrative echoes with latter-day reverberations." –
The Sunday Times (London)
"Few writers could go wrong with a story populated with so many villains, rogues, poltroons, swashbucklers, spies, assassins and heroes. But none would make a better job of it than William Dalrymple in this thrilling, magnificently evocative
Return of a King." –
Mail on Sunday (London)
"Marvelous. . . . Brilliant, exact language. . . . There is much in Dalrymple's superb book that has contemporary resonance." –
Sunday Herald
"Shows all the elements we have come to expect from Dalrymple: the clear, fluid prose, the ability to give complex historical events shape, story and meaning, the use of new local sources to allow the voices of the people . . . to be heard alongside the much-better documented accounts of the invaders. . . . This is clear-eyed, non-judgmental, sober history, beautifully told." –
The Observer (London)
"Sensationally good. . . . Dalrymple writes the kind of history that few historians can match." –
The Scotsman
"An absorbing and beautifully written account of a doomed effort to control an apparently uncontrollably population. . . . A saga that makes for marvelous storytelling, filled with heroes, knaves, incompetent fools, and savage, bloodthirsty warriors. It has been told often before but perhaps never so well as by Dalrymple." –
Booklist (starred)
