The Afghans

As an exploration of the social fabric of Afghan life, this book takes some beating. It's also a deft history of the country since the 1960s, charting its journey from hippy hang-out to Soviet satellite state, jihadist battleground, and finally, failed nation-building project * Daily Telegraph *
Åsne Seierstad is one of the greatest, most courageous journalists of our time. While others were desperately fleeing Afghanistan, Seierstad traveled there alone to see the impact of the Taliban victory. This is an important, heartbreaking book about the limits of military power, religious fundamentalism, America's broken promises, and the profound betrayal of Afghan women * Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation *
The Afghans is not simply an addictively engrossing read, but is also a work of real importance as we come to terms with Afghanistan's recent past and the return of the Taliban. This is a deeply human piece of writing which approaches the war through the eyes of the Afghans, men and women, who lived it, who made impossible choices at difficult moments, and who continue to live with the consequences. Harrowing, uplifting, fascinating, challenging and profound, no other recent book on the subject comes close * CPW Gammell, author of The Pearl of Khorasan: A History of Herat *
Seierstad is masterful . . . her book is world class * Aftonbladet *
Gripping . . . Seierstad succeeds in transforming the demonised stereotype - a Taliban terrorist - into a living, comprehensible human being * Expressen *
Enthralling and heart-breaking * Dagens Noeringsliv *
A heartbreaking account * Observer *