The Man Who Would Be King - Ben Macintyre

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The Man Who Would Be King

The First American in Afghanistan

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Paperbacks, May 2005
ISBN: 978-0-374-52957-4, ISBN10: 0-374-52957-4,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 368 pages, Includes 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations, notes, and an index,
Trade Paperback, $17.00

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Categories and Subcategories

See All Categories History World: Africa & Middle East

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 kingdom—only 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Based on the remarkable discovery of Josiah Harlan's own unpublished journals, The Man Who Would Be King tells—for the first time—the fascinating story of a political adventurer who personified the imperialistic impulse some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.

Praise

"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 Afghanistan—which ended thanks to British perfidy—inspired 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.' Fascinating—and most entertaining—from 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 struggles—Harlan urging the British to try 'fiscal diplomacy' (i.e., gold) instead of 'invading and subjugating an unoffending people'—makes it compelling."—Publishers Weekly

About the Author(s)

Ben Macintyre

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.