Return of a King

I'm reading 'Return of a King' by William Dalrymple. It tells the story of the first British attempt to invade Afghanistan between 1839 and 1842. It's an excellent book that invites parallels with more recent events. How about duff intelligence to make the case for war, incompetent leaders, setting up a puppet ruler, abusing Islam etc. The eventual outcome was a catastrophic withdrawal and the wiping out of the British army.

It's well worth reading, clearly and entertainingly written even though its size is intimidating at first.

The author was giving a lecture about the book at Sedbergh so I trotted along. This is he with a painting of the final defeat of the British Army. He was excellent. He makes history live.