Khaled Hosseini

The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan by Christina Lamb

Twenty-one-year-old Christina Lamb left suburban E more...0 points

Twenty-one-year-old Christina Lamb left suburban England for Peshawar on the frontier of the Afghan war. Captivated, she spent two years tracking the final stages of the mujaheddin victory over the Soviets, as Afghan friends smuggled her in and out of their country in a variety of guises. Returning to Afghanistan after the attacks on the World Trade Center to report for Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Lamb discovered the people no one else had written about: the abandoned victims of almost a quarter...0 points

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life In more...0 points

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban's backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual's power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan's treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-...0 points

Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts

"It took me a long time and most of the world more...0 points

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.Accompanied by his guide a...0 points

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Debor more...0 points

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills-as doctors, nurses, and therapists-seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought ou...0 points

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghani more...0 points

In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan-surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way Stewart met heroes and r...0 points

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

To what extent did America's best intelligence ana more...0 points

To what extent did America's best intelligence analysts grasp the rising threat of Islamist radicalism? Who tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail? Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Based on scrupulous research and firsthand accounts by key government, intelligence, and military personnel both for...0 points

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

For more than twenty years, Sultan Khan has defied more...0 points

For more than twenty years, Sultan Khan has defied the authorities, whether communist or Taliban, to supply books to the people of Kabul. He has been arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned, and has watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. Yet he has persisted in his passion for books, shedding light in one of the world's darkest places. This is the intimate portrait of a man of principle and of his family - two wives, five children, and many relatives sharing a....0 points

The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Sarah Chayes

A National Public Radio reporter covering the last more...0 points

A National Public Radio reporter covering the last stand of the Taliban in their home base of Kandahar in Afghanistan's southern borderland, Sarah Chayes became deeply immersed in the unfolding drama of the attempt to rebuild a broken nation at the crossroads of the world's destiny. Her NPR tour up in early 2002, she left reporting to help turn the country's fortunes, accepting a job running a nonprofit founded by President Hamid Karzai's brother. With remarkable access to leading players in the...0 points

Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan (Columbia/Hurst) by Antonio Giustozzi

Since the Allied invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, more...0 points

Since the Allied invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, the Bush administration has celebrated the imminent demise of the Taliban, with claims of a "moral and psychological defeat" playing a prominent role in the presidential elections of 2004. Some commentators suggested that "reconstruction and development" had won over the Afghan population, despite widespread criticism of the meager distribution of aid and failed attempts at "nation building," not to mention the infamous corruption of Kabul's powe...0 points

Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban by Stephen Tanner

The only complete single-volume military history o more...0 points

The only complete single-volume military history of Afghanistan, from ancient times to the war waged by the United States after September 11. Following the events of September 11, 2001, the world was riveted as American military power contested the legendary warrior culture of Afghanistan. By spring 2002, America began to draw down its forces, its mission accomplished: The Afghan Taliban regime has been overthrown and the terrorists it harbored were on the run. Was America's easy victory proof o...0 points

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces more...0 points

The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001. Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and their all...0 points

Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics by Martin Ewans

A fascinating chronicle of a nation's turbulent h more...0 points

A fascinating chronicle of a nation's turbulent history and a must read for anyone interested in the historical evolution of one of today's most dangerous breeding grounds of global terrorism. Starting in seventh century AD, Martin Ewans shows Afghanistan's early days - of powerful dynasties, fierce tribal rivalries and stunning architectural feats. In Ewans%u07ECucid and dispassionate prose, a once powerful empire is revealed, whose traditions and political stability have over the years....0 points

Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier by Joel Hafvenstein

A young American working on the brutal fault line more...0 points

A young American working on the brutal fault line where the war on terror meets the war on drugs. Joel Hafvenstein signed up for a year in Afghanistan in the heart of the country's opium trade, running an American-funded aid program to help thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government. The author was soon caught up in the deadly intrigues of Helmand's drug trafficking warlords. Click here to read the review in The New Y...0 points

The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra

Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this e more...0 points

Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples: Mohsen, who comes from a family of wealthy shopkeepers whom the Taliban has destroyed; Zunaira, his wife, exceedingly beautiful, who was once a brilliant teacher and is now no longer allowed to leave her home without an escort or covering her face. Intersecting their world is Atiq, a prison keeper, a man who has sincerely adopted the Taliban ideology and struggles to keep his faith,....0 points

Lonely Planet Afghanistan (Lonely Planet Travel Guides) (Lonely Planet Travel Guides) by Paul Clammer

Discover Afghanistan Blink as you emerge from the more...0 points

Discover Afghanistan Blink as you emerge from the cliffs at the top of one of Bamiyan's enormous Buddha niches, p.117 Stop pedalling for a moment and drift in your swan-shaped pedalo on the waters of Band-e Amir, p.122 Utter a great smoking sigh of contentment as you puff on a sheesha at Mirwais Shandaiz, p.194 In This Guide: Chapters on working and safety in Afghanistan, with advice from resident expats. Specialist contributors write on journalism, women, and trekking in the Wakhan and the A...0 points

Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide by Bijan Omrani, Matthew Leeming

Thanks to 20 years of civil war and its associatio more...0 points

Thanks to 20 years of civil war and its association with terrorism, Afghanistan is often unjustly thought of in the West as a barbarous backwater. This guide dispels that image in a comprehensive introduction to 3,500 years of Afghan culture. Starting with a full history of the country from 1500 BC, each chapter looks at the major cities and regions, describing their distinctive cultural and ethnic traditions, and their associations with poets, artists, musicians, travelers, and holy men, as wel...0 points

Afghan Guerrilla Warfare: In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters by Ali Ahmad Jalali

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, more...0 points

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, few experts believed the fledgling Mujahideen resistance movement had a chance of withstanding the modern, mechanized onslaught of the Soviet Army. But somehow, the Mujahideen prevailed against a larger and decisively better equipped foe. No one predicted the Soviet Union would withdraw in defeat in 1989. With more than 100 first-hand reports from Mujahideen combat veterans and maps illustrating locations and disposition of forces, this book is....0 points

The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan by Artyom Borovik

Until his death in 2000, Artyom Borovik was consid more...0 points

Until his death in 2000, Artyom Borovik was considered one of the preeminent journalists in Russia. With The Hidden War he provided the world its first glimpse inside the Soviet military machine, capturing the soldiers' terror, helplessness, and despair at waging war in a foreign land against an unseen enemy for unclear purposes. When first published, Borovik's groundbreaking revelations exposed the weaknesses beneath the Soviet Union's aura of military might, creating an enormous controversy bo...0 points

Kabul by M. E. Hirsh

Modern events sometime demand the reissue of a boo more...0 points

Modern events sometime demand the reissue of a book published several years ago.Hirsh's internationally acclaimed 1986 novel, Kabul, provides an almost miraculous window into a country and its people that now have captured the world's attention. When the last Afghan king is deposed in the summer of 1973, the family of Omar Anwari, his loyal cabinet minister, is torn apart along with their country.Over seven turbulent years while Catherine, their American mother, struggles to hold them together,....0 points

Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan by Ann Jones

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The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir by Farah Ahmedi

Farah Ahmedi's "poignant tale of survival&quo more...0 points

Farah Ahmedi's "poignant tale of survival" (Chicago Tribune) chronicles her journey from war to peace. Equal parts tragedy and hope, determination and daring, Ahmedi's memoir delivers a remarkably vivid portrait of her girlhood in Kabul, where the sound of gunfire and the sight of falling bombs shaped her life and stole her family. She herself narrowly escapes death when she steps on a land mine. Eventually the war forces her to flee, first over the mountains to refugee camps across the border,....0 points

Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom by John Follain, Rita Cristofari

Kabul was always more beautiful in the snow. Eve more...0 points

Kabul was always more beautiful in the snow. Even the piles of rotting rubbish in my street, the only source of food for the scrawny chickens and goats that our neighbors kept outside their mud houses, looked beautiful to me after the snow had covered them in white during the long night. Though she is only twenty-three, Zoya has witnessed and endured more tragedy and terror than most people experience in a lifetime. Born in a land ravaged by war, she was robbed of her parents when they were....0 points

MY FORBIDDEN FACE: GROWING UP UNDER THE TALIBAN: A YOUNG WOMAN'S STORY by Latifa

Born into a middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in more...0 points

Born into a middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980, Latifa had a conventional childhood. Then, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. And from that moment, Latifa, just sixteen, became a prisoner in her own home. The simplest and most basic freedoms were forbidden. She was forced to put on a chadri, the state-mandated uniform that covered her entire body. Disbelief at having to hide herself was soon replaced by fear, the fear of being whipped or stoned like women she'd seen. My Forbidden F...0 points

Building a New Afghanistan

Given resumed Taliban power and attacks, Afghanist more...0 points

Given resumed Taliban power and attacks, Afghanistan must tackle a host of serious problems before it can emerge as a confident, independent nation. Security in this battered state continues to deteriorate; suicide bombings, convoy ambushes, and insurgent attacks are still all too common. Effective state building depends upon eliminating the national security crisis and enhancing the rule of law. This book offers a blueprint for moving the embattled nation toward greater democracy and prosperity...0 points

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afgha more...0 points

Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor....0 points

Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan by Nick B. Mills

The untold story of Hamid Karzai's dramatic rise t more...0 points

The untold story of Hamid Karzai's dramatic rise to the presidency of Afghanistan and the problems he and his country face In 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected president in Afghanistan's first-ever democratic election. Today, criticized for indecisiveness and targeted for assassination by extremists, President Karzai struggles to build on the country's modest post-Taliban achievements before civil unrest undermines his government. Now, author Nick Mills draws on months of candid personal intervie...0 points

Afghan Food & Cookery: Noshe Djan by Helen Saberi

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Winter in Kandahar by Steven E. Wilson

AFGHANISTAN- the name conjures images of rugged mo more...0 points

AFGHANISTAN- the name conjures images of rugged mountains, ancient cities, hardened Mujaheddin, a country rife with regional rivalries, and the eternal struggle between Tajik and Pashtun. Afghanistan comes to life in this epic adventure of love, betrayal, and war. Young Tajik Ahmed JanÕs heroic journey begins in the Northern Alliance stronghold near Taloqan just a month prior to 9/11. He is swept away by the chaos that soon engulfs the country before a chance discovery propels him to the forefro...0 points

Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager's Story by Said Hyder Akbar, Susan Burton

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Behind the Burqa: Our Life in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom by Sulima and Hala, Batya Swift Yasgur

Advance Praise for Behind the Burqa "Whenever more...0 points

Advance Praise for Behind the Burqa "Whenever and wherever adults make war, children die and women are subjected to fear and humiliation. This is true of Afghanistan too. Read this harrowing book. The tragic yet heroic tale of two women is told with great simplicity. They will haunt you." -Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "The stories of Sulima and Hala achingly articulate the twin and enduring legacies of misogyny and violence. A critical historical document, Behind the Burqa ultima...0 points

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan by Nelofer Pazira

Written with compassion, intelligence and insight, more...0 points

Written with compassion, intelligence and insight, A Bed of Red Flowers is a profoundly moving portrait of life under occupation and the unforgettable story of a family, a people and a country."The picnic of the red flower" is a traditional time of celebration for Afghans. One of Nelofer Pazira's earliest memories is of people gathering in the countryside to admire the tulips and poppies carpeting the landscape. It is the mid-1970s, and her parents are building a future for themselves and their....0 points

The Moonlit Cage: A Novel by Linda Holeman

Daryâ's simple life in mid-nineteenth-century Afg more...0 points

Daryâ's simple life in mid-nineteenth-century Afghanistan is torn apart when a hateful curse by a jealous tribeswoman leaves her an outcast in her small Muslim village. She looks to her arranged marriage to the son of a nomadic tribal chief with hope that it will deliver her from this oppression; instead, Daryâ finds herself regularly beaten by her wrathful husband, and more isolated than she can bear. Seeing no choice other than to flee from her torment, Daryâ barely escapes through the fo...0 points

Afghan Cuisine: Cooking for Life : A Collection of Afghan Recipes (And Other Favorites) for the Novice Afghan and Non-Afghan Cook by Nafisa Sekandari

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Introduction to Pushtu: An Official Language of Afghanistan : Romanized by Qazi Rahimullah Khan

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The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre

The riveting story that inspired Kipling's classic more...0 points

The riveting story that inspired Kipling's classic tale and a John Huston movieThe true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before. Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an amazing twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exile...0 points

Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan by Michael Griffin

Cut adrift after the collapse of the Soviet Union, more...0 points

Cut adrift after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan has become a political no-man's-land. Historically an artifical "buffer state", Afghanistan has in recent years become the geopolitical playground of a variety of competitng interests - the Americans, the Saudis, Russians and Pakistanis, let alone drug barons, arms dealers and oil interests. Afghanistan's unstable and problematic history is now further complicated by the emergence of the Taliban - one of the most conservative and lea...0 points

Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan: The Martyr Who Founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan by Melody Ermachild Chavis

The unforgettable story of how one woman dared to more...0 points

The unforgettable story of how one woman dared to start a revolution. Meena founded RAWA in 1977 as a twenty-year-old Kabul University student. She was assassinated in 1987 at age thirty but lives on in the hearts of all progressive Muslim women. Her voice, speaking for freedom, has never been silenced. The compelling story of Meena's struggle for democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan will inspire young women the world over.0 points

Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (Hellenistic Culture and Society) by Frank L. Holt

What George W. Bush called the "first war of more...0 points

What George W. Bush called the "first war of the twenty-first century" actually began more than 2,300 years ago when Alexander the Great led his army into what is now a sprawling ruin in northern Afghanistan. Accounts of Alexander's invasion of ancient Bactria read eerily like news from our own day. In this vivid, meticulously researched, and elegantly narrated book, Frank L. Holt follows Alexander's historical, archaeological, and numismatic legacy back and forth between ancient Bactria and mod...0 points

Steve Mccurry: In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry, Kerry William Purcell

IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNTAINS is a new collection of more...0 points

IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNTAINS is a new collection of sublime portraits, landscapes, and street photography taken by Steve McCurry over the last 27 years. Children and shepherds, warriors and laborers are presented alongside striking views of sandstone cities, mountainous landscapes, and ancient temples. Evocative and timeless, these lyrical images capture the enduring spirit, grandeur, and beauty of the land that lies at the foot of the Hindu Kush. McCurry's photographs capture human experience and...0 points

Embroidery from Afghanistan (Fabric Folios) by Sheila Paine

Embroidery from Afghanistan is varied, rich, and s more...0 points

Embroidery from Afghanistan is varied, rich, and sumptuous. This book focuses on over thirty pieces and explores the embroidery of different tribes and their geographical regions. Illustrated in full color and in detail, the textiles included will provide designers at all levels with inspiration for the use of color and pattern in their own designs. In her introduction, Sheila Paine sets the pieces in their social and cultural contexts and investigates the shared traditions of the various tribes...0 points

Afghanistan: Chronotopia: Landscapes of the Destruction of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been ravaged by war for more than more...0 points

Afghanistan has been ravaged by war for more than twenty years; the Soviet Union, the Mujaheddin, the Taliban and the United States have all played their part. Norfolk's powerfully beautiful images reveal utter devastation on a vast and overwhelming scale. Afghanistan is unique, utterly unlike any other war-ravaged landscape. In Bosnia, Dresden or the Somme, for example, the devastation appears to have taken place within one period, inflicted by a small gamut of weaponry. However, the sheer leng...0 points

Memories of Afghanistan by M. H. Anwar

"Dr. M. H. Anwar's fascinating memoir. . . co more...0 points

"Dr. M. H. Anwar's fascinating memoir. . . conveys the ferment of protest and struggle which gripped Afghan society in those years. . . . Memories of Afghanistan is worth reading not only for the insights it provides into the revolutionary ferment among intellectuals and working people during the first half of this century, but also for its many warm and vivid portraits of individuals, and for the moments of joy and of pleasure, the friendships and the achievements, which Dr. Anwar recounts."-Ne...0 points

Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim's Journey from Afghanistan by Anthony Flacco

The astonishing story of a brave little girl from more...0 points

The astonishing story of a brave little girl from Afghanistan who survived horrific disfiguring burns and was given a second chance at life Tiny Dancer is the miraculous story of Zubaida (pronounced Zoo BAY duh), a nine-year-old girl from a remote region of Afghanistan who suffers excruciating burns when a kerosene heater explodes. But although Zubaida is horribly mutilated, she doesnt die. When an American soldier chances to see Zubaida, he cant ignore her suffering. He takes herdespite standin...0 points

An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot

Part historical evocation, part travelogue, and pa more...0 points

Part historical evocation, part travelogue, and part personal quest, An Unexpected Light is the account of Elliot's journey through Afghanistan, a country considered off-limits to travelers for twenty years. Aware of the risks involved, but determined to explore what he could of the Afghan people and culture, Elliot leaves the relative security of Kabul. He travels by foot and on horseback, and hitches rides on trucks that eventually lead him into the snowbound mountains of the North toward Uzbe...0 points

West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story by Tamim Ansary

The day after the World Trade Center was destroyed more...0 points

The day after the World Trade Center was destroyed, Tamim Ansary sent an anguished e-mail to twenty friends, discussing the attack from his perspective as an Afghan American. The message reached millions. Born to an Afghan father and American mother, Ansary grew up in the intimate world of Afghan family life and emigrated to San Francisco thinking he'd left Afghan culture behind forever. At the height of the Iranian Revolution, however, he took a harrowing journey through the Islamic world, and....0 points