Afghanistan

A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban

By: Stephen Tanner

Narrated by: Raymond Todd

For more than 2,500 years, the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads not only for armies but also for clashes between civilizations. As a result of the United States' engaging in armed conflict with the Afghan regime, an understanding of the military history of that blood-soaked land has become essential to every American.

Afghanistan's military history provides lessons for us today. The earliest written records inform us of fierce mountain tribes on the eastern edge of the cradle of civilization. Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan on his way from Persia to India. Later, because of its strategic location (the Silk Road passed through its mountainous northern region) Afghanistan was invaded in succession by Arabs, Mongols, and Tartars. In the nineteenth century, Great Britain tried, and failed, to add Afghanistan to its Indian empire, while Russia tried to expand into the same embattled land. Afghanistan once again fought, and defeated, a secular government in the face of rising Islamic resistance.

America has faced a new enemy on this land, a land that for centuries has become a graveyard of empires past.

©2002 Stephen Tanner (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"This is a noteworthy and valuable book: accessible, objective, informative, and informed." (Amazon.com)

Tough to Truly Follow Without Maps

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, but not in an audiobook.

Was Afghanistan worth the listening time?

Worth listening to, but I would get more out it in a paper book because without maps it is sometimes hard to follow. It is a very well researched book and to someone interested in the total history of Afghanistan, this is a good start.

Any additional comments?

This is an area I have an interest in, I have spent some time there, so I could generally follow. However, without maps, especially during some of the ancient times, it can be hard to truly follow. Knowing locations of some ancient places when you are just listening can be tough to follow. I used the book as a refresher to brush up on some reading I had done years earlier and it succeeded. Nevertheless, Tanner does a good job of weaving personal touch stories into the works that keep it interesting. Todd does a good of narration. I did not encounter any problems with sound quality others had made.

A Great Overview

I listened to this just before I deployed to Afghanistan and was amazed at just how much of what was in the book is still relevant today. A great piece to put the conflict and hopes of Afghanistan today into perspective of the regions long history.

afg

very informative book on the big picture of Afghanistan

definitive work on Afghanistan

I first read this in 2012 while in Afghanistan and found it very helpful. An excellent history review for anyone interested in the central Asian area. well read copy. would love to hear the authors thoughts on the past 20 years as well.

Good material, read by a computer...

Great material but the reader has no idea how to correctly pronounce names, geographic places, military hardware, or other things.