THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

This is the tale of a man who would conquer Afghanistan, no not George bush, or Sean Connery for that matter. Its 19th-century maverick Josiah Harlan, who was the inspiration for both the former figures and others who sought there (mis)fortune in its hostile terrain. Now personally I think its two ticks against a mans sanity that he would even try to take over Afghanistan and second of all what would you do with it even if you managed the task. That said you have to give it to a fellow who's willing to give things a try. And Harlan certainly gave it a good shot. In The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan, Ben Macintyre tells a tale which sounds straight out of Kipling, not surprising as Kipling drew his inspiraton for The Man Who Would Be King from this real life story. The tale goes something like this boy meets girls, gets the shaft, decides bugger this, bugger America lets take over a country and let the fun begin. Harlan makes a pretty good attempt of it too, disguising himself as a Muslim holy man, connives his way to Kabul, recruits mercenaries and gets himself crowned king, for a while anyway. I'm a big fan of Macintyre, in particular I also enjoyed The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief
and his more recent Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal






Also worth  watching is the Man Who Would Be King which is the movie of the Kipling tale. Its a damn good film