Return of a King
The Battle for Afghanistan
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Return of a King
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Narrated by:
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Sagar Arya
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents Return of a King by William Dalrymple, read by Sagar Arya.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2013
'As taut and richly embroidered as a great novel . . . a masterpiece' Sunday Telegraph
'Dazzling' Sunday Times | 'Magnificent' Guardian | 'Sparkling' Daily Telegraph
A towering history of the first Afghan War by bestselling historian William Dalrymple.
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.
On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the nineteenth century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen.
Using a range of forgotten Afghan and Indian sources, William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful parable of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris. Return of a King is history at its most urgent and important.
What listeners say about Return of a King
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Abe Killian
- 29-10-2023
Overall - very good
This is a very interesting and somewhat complex book. I think it could have done with a prologue, as we got into the action very quickly and with a collection of unfamiliar names, that became quite challenging.
I do have one criticism that made this book a little less impactful - there were only a few times where there was a clear divide between "company men" and British military. I think this needed to be clearer as although they effectively served the same master (even by proxy) the ambitions and aims were different.
The narration was excellent with some nice light and shade in the narrator's voice and style.
This book would be amazing with a cast of voice actors too. Maybe for another edition.
The Great Game was touched on in parts of the book - it would have been great to see that elaborated on a bit more too.
Well worth a listen! Amazing to hear location names so familiar from the campaign in modern day Afghanistan. No wonder Western intervention is seen as a return to the bad old days.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rodney Wetherell
- 11-05-2021
Story of devastation, entertainingly told.
I knew roughly what Dalrymple's book was about, but was not prepared for the story of incompetence and ignorance, on the part of the British in India, which led them into a hopeless mire in Afghanistan. The Afghan leaders were no strangers to torture and murder themselves, and had the chance to eliminate many of the hated British generals and top bureaucrats. Dalrymple has told the story in great detail, using Afghan sources for the first time, and the result is a masterwork indeed. Sometimes I lost track of who was who, among the Shahs and Emirs, Generals and Governors-General, but the story swept splendidly on - yet vengeance played a huge part in the events, on both sides. The narrator was excellent.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Shaun
- 02-07-2022
Boggling scale and complexity
Again, the author has managed to combine amazing detailed research into heart felt tales of true history.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-11-2024
Excellent history. Very enjoyable.
Very well researched and exciting retelling of the catastrophic British invasion of Afghanistan. History has judged certain actors justifiably poorly and this detailed narrative clearly shows why. Undeniable parallels to modern day also. Highly recommend.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Rowey555
- 08-09-2024
Verbose and repetitive
Poorly researched, and terribly written. Dalrymple’s motto should be “why use one word when 34 will do.” When he isn’t indulging irrelevant tangents, he is sensationalising content and exaggerating character profiles. He does this in every book of his I’ve read or been made to read at unit. If this subject interests you read “Retreat from Kabul” by Bruce.
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