Synopses & Reviews
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 exiled Afghan King, and then commander-in-chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British.
Using a trove of newly-discovered documents, Harlan's own unpublished journals, and with a revised Preface detailing the unexpected discovery of Harlan's descendents, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing tale of the man who would be the first and last American king.
Ben Macintyre is the author of three previous books: Forgotten Fatherland, The Napoleon of Crime, and The Englishman's Daughter. He is a columnist for The Times (London), where he edits the Weekend Review section. He was formerly the paper's bureau chief in New York, Paris, and Washington. He lives in London with his family. In the winter of 1838, an adventurer, surrounded by native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Paramount Chief of the Hazarajat, and the spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great. His name was Josiah Harlan. A Pennsylvania Quaker, Harlan was the first American ever to enter Afghanistan. In The Man Who Would Be King we have the extraordinary true story of the man who inspired Kipling's classic tale. A soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Harlan was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1799. At the age of twenty-two, after a failed love affair, he set off on what was to become an amazing twenty-year journey through Central Asia. Among his many exploits, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan King, and commander in chief of the Afghan armies. He modeled himself after Alexander the Great and followed in his footsteps across the Hindu Kush, where he successfully forged his own kingdomonly to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British. Harlan retired to the United States, where he raised his own regiment during the Civil War and engaged in a variety of harebrained schemes, including the introduction of the camel to the American West as a viable means of locomotion, and the cultivation of exotic Afghan grapes. Based on the remarkable discovery of Josiah Harlan's own unpublished journals, The Man Who Would Be King tellsfor the first timethe fascinating story of a political adventurer who personified the imperialistic impulse some sixty years before the Spanish-American War. Colorful, exotic, and highly entertaining, this book is also a cautionary tale that echoes down the centuries as the United States finds itself entangled, once again, with Afghanistan. "One of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of biography . . . It's a 'ripping yearn,' as we used to say, and Macintyre is an excellent narrator, describing with skill a spirited and fast-moving life."David Gilmour, The New York Review of Books "The book is a Kiplingesque fantasy guaranteed to get even the dourest reader's blood racing."Leela Jacinto, The Nation "Here is a writer who seems as taken as I am with crackpottery, delusion, grandiosity, chicanery, and impersonation, but who manages to write about it all with amused restraint, without, that is, the air of the ogler."Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe "Harlan's real story, told for the first time [here] in The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan, turns out to be so extraordinary even Kipling might have balked at some of its twists and turns . . . Macintyre's riveting, scrupulously researched book should place this remarkable man where he rightfully belongs: in the pantheon of 19th-century American folk heroes."Alexander Frater, The New York Times Book Review "An intriguing historical footnote teased into epic. As he did with The Napoleon of Crime (1997), London Times columnist Macintyre finds an unlikely hero in a 19th-century American who defied convention and got himself in hot water for his troubles. The man in question was a young Pennsylvania Quaker, Josiah Harlan, who left his comfortable home and made his way to India. There, in the dusty streets of Peshawar, he made the acquaintance of an exiled Afghan potentate who promised him endless wealth and power if only Harlan would lead an army to Kabul and overthrow the usurper. (The potentate added that he would have done so already, but he was 'concerned for the safety of the harem, which he could hardly take into battle.') That was apparently all Harlan needed to hear, and in no time he was charging around in the highest elevations of the Hindu Kush, where he planted an American flag. Long before the arrival of the English in Afghanistan, Harlan was living the fine life of a pale god; in the end, he bore many titles: 'Prince of Ghor, Paramount Chief of the Hazarajat, Lord of Kurram, governor of Jasrota and Gujrat . . . Chief Sirdar and Commandant of the invincible armies of Dost Mohammed Khan, mighty Amir of Kabul, Pearl of the Ages, and Commander of the Faithful.' Macintyre reasonably suggests that Harlan's adventures in Afghanistanwhich ended thanks to British perfidyinspired Rudyard Kipling's great story 'The Man Who Would Be King,' save that the real-life tale's denouement was far less interesting: after scandal-tinged service as a Union officer in the Civil War, Harlan wound up in San Francisco practicing medicine without a license and presumably bragging to whomever would listen about his 'sojourn of eighteen years amongst the Pagan and Mohamedan communities of the East.' Fascinatingand most entertainingfrom start to finish."Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "While many know Sean Connery as 'The Man Who Would Be King,' few know 19th-century maverick Josiah Harlan, whose adventures probably inspired John Huston's version of Kipling's tale. But the research of British journalist Macintyre gives readers both Harlan's story and a thought-provoking perspective on the history of superpower intervention in Afghanistan . . . While mapping Harlan's adventures, Macintyre entertains readers with odd episodes (e.g., Harlan visiting an Afghan sauna fueled by burning night soil) and myriad ironies (e.g., Freemason Harlan trading secrets with an old Rosicrucian sorcerer in an Afghan cave). Harlan's story alone is fascinating, but its resonance with modern-day strugglesHarlan urging the British to try 'fiscal diplomacy' (i.e., gold) instead of 'invading and subjugating an unoffending people'makes it compelling."Publishers Weekly
Review
Praise for
The Man Who Would Be King:
"One of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of biography . . . It is a far more adventurous tale than the one invented by Kipling: its twists and tensions and dangerous escapades make it more like a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson or John Buchan or Rider Haggard . . . It's a 'ripping yarn' as we used to say, and Macintyre is an excellent narrator, describing with skill a spirited and fast-moving life." --David Gilmour, The New York Review of Books
"Macintyre unearths a trove of unseen documents...and imparts a tactile understanding of Afghanistan's cultural impulses. B+." --Raymond Fiore, Entertainment Weekly
"Macintyre has been able to piece together this never-before-told story by a great archival find...[He] also tells with unflagging élan...There is so much tragedy, cruelty, and general badness afoot in this book that I wonder how to explain how really funny it is. But it is." --Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe
"Macintyre's riveting, scrupulously researched book [on Josiah Harlan] should place this remarkable man where he rightfully belongs." --Alexander Frater, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
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 exiled Afghan King, and then commander-in-chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British.
Using a trove of newly-discovered documents, Harlan's own unpublished journals, and with a revised Preface detailing the unexpected discovery of Harlan's descendents, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing tale of the man who would be the first and last American king.
Synopsis
The Man Who Would Be King is the riveting story that inspired Kipling's classic tale and a John Huston movie
In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great.
The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago.
Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British.
Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlan's own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre's The Man Who Would Be King tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king.
About the Author
Ben Macintyre is the author of three books, most recently
The Englishman's Daughter (FSG, 2002). A senior writer and columnist for
The Times of London, he was the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris, and Washington D.C. He now lives in London.