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Buy Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander The Great To The Fall Of The Taliban  

About the Author: Stephen Tanner is a New York-based writer who specializes in military history.

Book Description: This book is an excellent introduction to the “big” history of modern-day Afghanistan, providing an overview of empire building and collapsing (either Afghans pushing outward or others pushing inwards), succeeding waves of tribes and armies moving through the region, etc.  Very well researched and written. Even if you have very little knowledge of Afghanistan, you can understand and easily read this book. It is full of interesting history, along with it’s excellent explanation of the military information.  This book covers the regional peoples and ancient tribes who have made indelible contributions to modern Afghan society to the first years of U.S. intervention in the “War on Terror.”  The early chapters of the book are an interesting brief on Afghan history condensed. Featuring an exhaustive list of regions, tribes, villains and personalities that would otherwise require too much additional background to cover in-depth. Tanner’s modern-day material draws on British, or at least mostly Occidental sources, and covers the British and Russian experience in Afghanistan noticeably more in-depth. The connections Tanner makes between Afghanistan and Switzerland are brilliant and set the stage for his conclusion.  This book is filled with remarkable information, covering nearly 2,500 years and drawing from a vast number of sources and I highly recommend it.

 

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