Afghanistan Rising

Download Afghanistan Rising full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Afghanistan Rising ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Afghanistan Rising

Author : Faiz Ahmed
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674971949
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Afghanistan Rising by : Faiz Ahmed

Download or read book Afghanistan Rising written by Faiz Ahmed and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debunking conventional narratives of Afghanistan as a perennial war zone and the rule of law as a secular-liberal monopoly, Faiz Ahmed presents a vibrant account of the first Muslim-majority country to gain independence, codify its own laws, and ratify a constitution after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Afghanistan Rising illustrates how turn-of-the-twentieth-century Kabul--far from being a landlocked wilderness or remote frontier--became a magnet for itinerant scholars and statesmen shuttling between Ottoman and British imperial domains. Tracing the country's longstanding but often ignored scholarly and educational ties to Baghdad, Damascus, and Istanbul as well as greater Delhi and Lahore, Ahmed explains how the court of Kabul attracted thinkers eager to craft a modern state within the interpretive traditions of Islamic law and ethics, or shariʿa, and international norms of legality. From Turkish lawyers and Arab officers to Pashtun clerics and Indian bureaucrats, this rich narrative focuses on encounters between divergent streams of modern Muslim thought and politics, beginning with the Sublime Porte's first mission to Afghanistan in 1877 and concluding with the collapse of Ottoman rule after World War I. By unearthing a lost history behind Afghanistan's founding national charter, Ahmed shows how debates today on Islam, governance, and the rule of law have deep roots in a beleaguered land. Based on archival research in six countries and as many languages, Afghanistan Rising rediscovers a time when Kabul stood proudly as a center of constitutional politics, Muslim cosmopolitanism, and contested visions of reform in the greater Islamicate world.

Afghanistan's Endless War

Author : Larry P. Goodson
Publisher : University of Washington Press
ISBN 13 : 9780295980508
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (85 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Afghanistan's Endless War by : Larry P. Goodson

Download or read book Afghanistan's Endless War written by Larry P. Goodson and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Going beyond the stereotypes of Kalashnikov-wielding Afghan mujahideen and the black-turbaned fundamentalists, Larry Goodson combines Taliban interviews and fiedl research with concise analysis to explain what has been happening in Afghanistan in the last 20 years and why the future of Afghanistan matters.

The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan

Author : N. Nojumi
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0312299109
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (122 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan by : N. Nojumi

Download or read book The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan written by N. Nojumi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the turbulent political history of Afghanistan from the communist upheaval of the 1970s through to the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001. It reviews the importance of the region to external powers and explains why warfare and instability have been endemic. The author analyses in detail the birth of the Taliban and the bloody rise to power of fanatic Islamists, including Osama bin Laden, in the power vacuum following the withdrawal of US aid. Looking forward, Nojumi explores the ongoing quest for a third political movement in Afghanistan - an alternative to radical communists or fanatical Islamists and suggests the support that will be neccessary from the international community in order for such a movement to survive.

On Afghanistan's Plains

Author : Jules Stewart
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857720031
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis On Afghanistan's Plains by : Jules Stewart

Download or read book On Afghanistan's Plains written by Jules Stewart and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain's military involvement in Afghanistan is a contentious subject, yet it is often forgotten that the current conflict is in fact the fourth in a string of such wars dating back as far as the early nineteenth century. Aiming to protect the British territories in India from the expanding Russian empire, the British fought a series of conflicts on Afghan territory between 1838 and 1919. The Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th and early 20th centuries were ill-conceived and led to some of the worst military disasters ever sustained by British forces in this part of the world, with poor strategy in the First Afghan War resulting in the annihilation of 16,000 soldiers and civilians in a single week. In his new book, Jules Stewart explores the potential danger of replaying Britain's military catastrophes and considers what can be learnt from revisiting the story of these earlier Afghan wars.

Falling Terrorism and Rising Conflicts

Author : Hooman Peimani
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313015619
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Falling Terrorism and Rising Conflicts by : Hooman Peimani

Download or read book Falling Terrorism and Rising Conflicts written by Hooman Peimani and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2003-09-30 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Taliban's fall and the massive American military and political presence in South and West Asia have created grounds for a polarization into two camps: India, Iran and Russia, to which China is affiliated, and the United States and Pakistan. In Peimani's analysis, their incompatible interests will push them towards confrontations with regional and international implications. Contrary to expectations, the fall of the Taliban did not bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. The Afghan interim government is simply too weak to act as a central government; this results in the re-emergence of warlords, turf wars, and the expansion of drug trafficking. This unstable situation may well result in the emergence of Taliban-like groups. Added to this, the threat of the spillover of instability from Afghanistan into neighboring regions, on the one hand, and the rapid expansion of American military and political power in Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, on the other, have created fear among the regional powers. The stated indefinite stay of American forces well after the end of the anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan has worsened that fear as it reflected the American government's plan to pursue certain strategic interests unrelated to that war. Consequently, as Peimani shows, the regional anti-terrorist coalition has disintegrated in the absence of a common objective to help focus the region. Fear of the long-term American objectives and those of its Pakistani ally in South and West Asia incompatible with those of the regional powers have facilitated the creation of two camps consisting of Iran, India, and Russia, to which China is affiliated, and Pakistan and the United States. Respectively, these implicit and explicit camps are likely to collide over their regional interests especially in the strategically important energy-producing Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea regions.

A State Built on Sand

Author : David Mansfield
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190694602
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A State Built on Sand by : David Mansfield

Download or read book A State Built on Sand written by David Mansfield and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oscillations in opium poppy production in Afghanistan have long been associated with how the state was perceived, such as after the Taliban imposed a cultivation ban in 2000-1. The international community's subsequent attempts to regulate opium poppy became intimately linked with its own state-building project, and rising levels of cultivation were cited as evidence of failure by those international donors who spearheaded development in poppy-growing provinces like Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar. Mansfield's book examines why drug control - particularly opium bans - have been imposed in Afghanistan; he documents the actors involved; and he scrutinizes how prohibition served divergent and competing interests. Drawing on almost two decades of fieldwork in rural areas, he explains how these bans affected farming communities, and how prohibition endured in some areas while in others opium production bans undermined livelihoods and destabilized the political order, fuelling violence and rural rebellion. Above all this book challenges how we have come to understand political power in rural Afghanistan. Far from being the passive recipients of violence by state and non-state actors, Mansfield highlights the role that rural communities have played in shaping the political terrain, including establishing the conditions under which they could persist with opium production.

Dead Men Risen

Author : Toby Harnden
Publisher : Quercus Books
ISBN 13 : 9781849164214
Total Pages : 610 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (642 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Dead Men Risen by : Toby Harnden

Download or read book Dead Men Risen written by Toby Harnden and published by Quercus Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE 2012. This is the tale of the Welsh Guards in Helmand in 2009. Underequipped and overstretched, guardsmen from the coal mining valleys and slate quarry villages of Wales found themselves in Helmand in some of the most intense fighting by British troops for more than a generation. They were confronted by a Taliban enemy they seldom saw, facing the constant threat of Improvised Explosive Devices and ambush. Leading them into battle was Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, destined for the highest ranks. He was a passionate believer in the war but was dismayed by how it was being conducted. Dead Men Risen will unnerve politicians and generals alike. In chilling detail, Toby Harnden reveals how and why Thorneloe was killed by an IED during Operation Panther's Claw. Harnden, who had known Thorneloe since they met in Northern Ireland in 1996, was on the ground in Helmand with the Welsh Guards. He draws on a trove of military documents, including many by Thorneloe, the first British battalion commander to die in action since the Falklands war of 1982. Major Sean Birchall left behind an unvarnished account of the shortcomings of the Afghan forces that represent Nato's exit strategy. Lieutenant Mark Evison wrote a diary that raises questions from beyond the grave. It was more than half a century since a British battalion had lost officers at these three key levels of leadership. By the time the fighting was over, almost no rank had been spared. A visceral and timeless account of men at war, Dead Men Risen conveys what it is like to be a soldier who has to kill, face paralysing fear and watch comrades perish in agony. Given unprecedented access to the Welsh Guards, Harnden conducted more than 300 interviews in Afghanistan, England and Wales. The searing heat of the poppy fields and mud compounds of Helmand to the dreaded knock on the door back home, the reader is transported there. Harnden weaves the experiences of the guardsmen and their loved ones into an unsparing narrative that sits alongside a piercing analysis of military strategy. No other book about modern conflict succeeds on so many levels. Dead Men Risen is essential for anyone who wants to learn the reality of Britain's war in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Author : Hollie McKay
Publisher : Erudition
ISBN 13 : 9781955690249
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Afghanistan by : Hollie McKay

Download or read book Afghanistan written by Hollie McKay and published by Erudition. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overnight, Afghanistan dramatically transformed. One chapter - a twenty-year epoch heralded by the attacks of September 11, the U.S. invasion and propping up an ailing government - shuttered on August 15, 2021. Another entirely new - albeit old - chapter flipped open under the stringent ruling of the Taliban.Officially termed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it's a government that triggers immense fear among the population, having reigned with an iron fist pre-9/11 and waged a brutal insurgency from the mountaintops that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans and foreigners.Veteran war reporters - writer Hollie McKay and photographer Jake Simkin - walk you through the fall of the U.S. and the rise of the Taliban, drawing you into the minds of the new regime and into the hearts of the Afghanistan people."Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule" is a chilling bloody, yet beautiful visual expedition through one of the most magical yet wounded parcels of the planet. It is a place where poppies grow wild and men in the mountains cradle guns like children. It's a place where kits fly high, and everyone has a war story, even though most never chose to go to war.Welcome to Afghanistan after the cataclysmic fall. The band-aid over the bullet wound has been ripped off, and "Afghanistan" will guide you into the maze of dust, debris and delicacy the way no journalistic endeavor has done before.

The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan

Author : Neamatollah Nojumi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780756780906
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan by : Neamatollah Nojumi

Download or read book The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan written by Neamatollah Nojumi and published by . This book was released on 2004-07-02 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 11, 2001, the world looked in horror at one of the most nefarious acts of terrorism in history. Neamatollah Nojumi explains how Afghanistan became the base for radical fundamentalism and provides critical understanding of how internal divisions and the devastating effects of foreign involvement undermined the resilience of Afghanistan's communities, led to the rise of the Taliban, and now presents a unique challenge to international efforts at nation building. As the cycle of yesterday's allies becoming today's enemies turns once again, The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan provides crucial insight into the tangled interaction of domestic, regional, and international politics that have bedeviled outsiders, plagued Afghans, and that threaten, absent judgement based on insight, to be a quagmire for the United States in the years ahead. This is essential reading in our troubled times.

Walking the Precipice

Author : Barbara Bick
Publisher : The Feminist Press at CUNY
ISBN 13 : 1558619194
Total Pages : 201 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (586 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Walking the Precipice by : Barbara Bick

Download or read book Walking the Precipice written by Barbara Bick and published by The Feminist Press at CUNY. This book was released on 2015-06-07 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “enthralling” memoir of a woman who risked her life to help a people under siege and a country caught between freedom and oppression (Publishers Weekly—starred review). In 1990, sixty-five-year-old activist and grandmother Barbara Bick traveled with a women’s delegation to Afghanistan for what she thought would be her last great adventure. Instead, Bick forged deep friendships with her Afghan hosts—only to watch in horror as the Taliban took over most of the country and instituted fiercely anti-woman policies. Eleven years later, at age 76, Bick returned to Afghanistan, travelling to the region controlled by the Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban militia. In early September 2001, Bick walked out of a compound where militia leader Ahmad Shah Massoud was also staying. Minutes later, Taliban infiltrators assassinated Massoud—a prelude to the al Qaeda attacks on the United States. As the US government became deeply involved in Afghanistan, Bick decided to return once again to see how women were faring under the new government. In 2004, she was one of the few Western women able to bring years of experience to understanding the country’s trauma. Walking the Precipice gives new insight into the people, politics, and culture of a country that is on everyone’s radar—for its beauty, and for its tragic place history.

The Afghanistan Papers

Author : Craig Whitlock
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982159014
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Afghanistan Papers by : Craig Whitlock

Download or read book The Afghanistan Papers written by Craig Whitlock and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-08-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Washington Post Best Book of 2021 The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock. Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

Rise

Author : Daniel Rodriguez
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544365607
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (443 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Rise by : Daniel Rodriguez

Download or read book Rise written by Daniel Rodriguez and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2014 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A soldier who fought in one of the bloodiest battles in Afghanistan, and against all odds, lived to pursue his dream of playing Division 1 college football tells his story for the first time. 35,000 first printing.

The Rise and Fall of the Taliban

Author : Kelly Barth
Publisher : Greenhaven Press, Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9780737719871
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (198 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of the Taliban by : Kelly Barth

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the Taliban written by Kelly Barth and published by Greenhaven Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afghanistan has a long history of power shifts and civil unrest. The Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic group, was simply another in a series of individuals and organizations who attempted to rule this war-torn country. This anthology details the conditions that gave rise to the Taliban. It also covers the conditions of the Afghani people under Taliban rule and the U.S.-lead war meant to oust them from power following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Bleeding Afghanistan

Author : Sonali Kolhatkar
Publisher : Seven Stories Press
ISBN 13 : 1609800931
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Bleeding Afghanistan by : Sonali Kolhatkar

Download or read book Bleeding Afghanistan written by Sonali Kolhatkar and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through in-depth research and detailed historical context, Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls report on the injustice of U.S. policies in Afghanistan historically and in the post-9/11 era. Drawing from declassified government documents and on-the-ground interviews with Afghan activists, journalists, lawyers, refugees, and students, Bleeding Afghanistan examines the connections between the U.S. training and arming of Mujahideen commanders and the subversion of Afghan democracy today. Bleeding Afghanistan boldly critiques the exploitation of Afghan women to justify war by both conservatives and liberals, analyzes uncritical media coverage of U.S. policies, and examines the ways in which the U.S. benefits from being in Afghanistan.

Who is Winning the War in Afghanistan?

Author : Sayed Zia Sais
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1465366113
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (653 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Who is Winning the War in Afghanistan? by : Sayed Zia Sais

Download or read book Who is Winning the War in Afghanistan? written by Sayed Zia Sais and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who Is Winning The War In Afghanistan? A pro - Communist coup, the impact and aftermath of the Soviet (1978-79) invasion and 30 years of war have demolished the social life, cohesion, integrity, solidarity, trust, capacity, and economy of Afghanistan. Millions of people have migrated to foreign countries, houses and villages have been destroyed, the country’s economy and infrastructure has been utterly destroyed, millions of young civilians and children have been deprived of education and thousands of women have been widowed. The conflict in Afghanistan has also had a great impact on security, economy and the political prosperity of other parts of the world. The 9/11 incidents which shocked the world, once again drew international attention back to the forgotten Afghanistan. The Bonn conference (2001), the NATO led invasion, the collapse of the Taliban regime and the promises of the international community to build a democratic Afghan government with a solid institution and strong security force, created great hopes amongst the Afghan population for a better future. After the fall of the Taliban regime, the violence and insurgency began to increase. Despite all international efforts and an increase in troop numbers from 10,000 in 2002 to around 140,000 in 2010 and the spending of £50 billion in aid, the Afghan government is still weak and does not have control over the whole country; the armed forces are not strong enough; violence continues to rise and last year was the deadliest year in nearly nine year of war; additionally, the security situation across the country looks increasingly bad. The lasting war has had little success in Afghanistan, the pressure of insurgents, increasing casualties, unpopularity of war among the population of NATO-led countries and enormous war costs in a worsening economic climate have caused the announcement of the withdrawal of troops by US President B. Obama in 2011 and the UK Prime Minister D. Cameron by 2015. This book aims to determine the answer to the question of whether the Coalition Forces are winning the war in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437915523
Total Pages : 187 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (379 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Afghanistan by :

Download or read book Afghanistan written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Estimates total opium cultivation in 2008 in Afghanistan at 157,000 hectares, a 19% reduction compared to 2007. 98% of the total cultivation is confined to 7 provinces with security problems: 5 are in the south and 2 in the west of Afghanistan. Of the 38 provinces in the country, 18 were poppy-free in 2008 compared to 13 in 2007. The total opium production in 2008 is est. at 7,700 metric tons, a 6% reduction compared to 2007. Almost all of the production takes place in the same 7 provinces where the cultivation is concentrated. The gross income for farmers who cultivated opium poppy was est. at US$730 million in 2008. This is a decrease from 2007, when farmgate income for opium was estimated at US$1 billion. Maps, tables and graphs.

An Afghanistan Picture Show

Author : William T. Vollmann
Publisher : Melville House
ISBN 13 : 1612191991
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (121 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis An Afghanistan Picture Show by : William T. Vollmann

Download or read book An Afghanistan Picture Show written by William T. Vollmann and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2013-07-09 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Never before available in paperback and all but invisible for twenty years, a personal account of the origins of America's longest war. In 1982, the young William Vollmann worked odd jobs, including as a secretary at an insurance company, until he'd saved up enough money to go to Afghanistan, where he wanted to join the mujahedeen to fight the Soviets. The resulting book wasn't published until 1992, and Library Journal wrote: "The wrong book written at the wrong time. . . . With the situation in Afghanistan rapidly heading toward resolution . . . libraries may safely skip this." Thirty years later--and with the United States still mired in the longest war of its history--it's time for a reassessment of Vollmann's heartfelt tale of idealism and its terrifying betrayals. An alloy of documentary and autobiographical elements characteristic of Vollmann's later nonfiction, An Afghanistan Picture Show is not a work of conventional reportage; instead, it's an account of a subtle and stubborn consciousness grappling with the limits of will and idealism imposed by violence and chaos.