The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in AfghanistanThe Riveting Account of the American Who Inspired Kipling's Classic Tale and the John Huston Movie In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great. The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago. Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British. Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlan's own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king. |
Contents
Prologue | 3 |
1 A Company Wallah | 9 |
2 The Quaker Kingmaker | 25 |
3 My Sword Is My Passport | 45 |
4 The Young Alexander | 63 |
5 The Dervish from Chester County | 81 |
6 From Peshawar to Kabul | 101 |
7 Kabul Conspiracy and Cholera | 121 |
12 The Prince of Ghor | 209 |
13 Prometheus from Pennsylvania | 229 |
14 A Grand Promenade | 241 |
15 Camel Connoisseur and Grape Agent | 255 |
16 Harlans Last Stand | 275 |
Epilogue | 287 |
Notes | 293 |
Selected Bibliography | 335 |
Other editions - View all
The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan Ben Macintyre No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Afghan Afghanistan Alexander Alexander Burnes American amir amir's Amirullah armed army arrived artillery Asia Avitabile Bahawal Bala Hisar beard British brother Burnes Cabul Calcutta camels camp Charles Masson Chester County Chester County Archives chief cited command court Dash declared Dost Mahomed Dost Mohammed Khan Dost Mohammed's East Elphinstone empire envoy exiled feringhee force fortress Gardner gold Gujrat Gul Khan hand Hazara Hazarajat Hindu Kush holy horse Ibid India Indus Josiah Harlan Kabul Kabul Catastrophe Khan's king Kipling Kunduz Lahore letter Ludhiana Macnaghten Macrory maharaja maulvi Memoir military Moolvie Moorcroft mountains Mullah Narrative of Various native nawab never officers once Paolo di Avitabile party passed Persian person Peshawar prince Punjab Quaker Ranjit Singh Rohillah Shah Shujah Sikh Sketches slave soldiers Sultan Mohammed Khan sword tent tion tribes troops U.S. Gazette ud-Din Uzbek Various Journeys vizier Wade wild Wolff wrote Harlan Yar Mohammed