The First Anglo-Afghan Wars: A Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822356627 ISBN 13: 9780822356622

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2014

Synopsis

Designed for classroom use, The First Anglo-Afghan Wars gathers in one volume primary source materials related to the first two wars that Great Britain launched against native leaders of the Afghan region. From 1839 to 1842, and again from 1878 to 1880, Britain fought to expand its empire and prevent Russian expansion into the region's northwest frontier, which was considered the gateway to India, the jewel in Victorian Britain's imperial crown. Spanning from 1817 to 1919, the selections reflect the complex national, international, and anticolonial interests entangled in Central Asia at the time. The documents, each of which is preceded by a brief introduction, bring the nineteenth-century wars alive through the opinions of those who participated in or lived through the conflicts. They portray the struggle for control of the region from the perspectives of women and non-Westerners, as well as well-known figures including Kipling and Churchill. Filled with military and civilian voices, the collection clearly demonstrates the challenges that Central Asia posed to powers attempting to secure and claim the region. It is a cautionary tale, unheeded by Western powers in the post–9/11 era.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Antoinette Burton is Professor of History and Catherine C. and Bruce A. Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has written and edited many books, including A Primer for Teaching World History: Ten Design Principles; Empire in Question: Reading, Writing, and Teaching British Imperialism; Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History; and After the Imperial Turn: Thinking with and through the Nation, all published by Duke University Press.
 

Review:

"Antoinette Burton has curated a groundbreaking archive of documents related to what she poignantly calls the 'First Anglo-Afghan Wars.' Incisively introduced with a critical eye toward how these texts bear the traces of Afghan and sepoy agency and toward the roles of non-European actors in the unfolding of Afghanistan's history, this brilliant Reader delivers a counter-narrative to the totalizing pull of American exceptionalism. The significance of articulating this archive and situating its contents' relevance to the ongoing present cannot be overstated. As a classroom tool, it promises to revolutionize discussions not only about the British empire, but also about current front-page news." (Zarena Aslami, author of The Dream Life of Citizens: Late Victorian Novels and the Fantasy of the State 2014-03-17)

"As important as they were in the annals of Britain's imperial history, the first Anglo-Afghan wars were the formative crises of the Afghan state. By drawing together travel writings, newspaper and intelligence reports, diaries, and poems by contemporaries, Antoinette Burton has assembled the essential compendium on these image-fixing encounters for the student and specialist alike." (Nile Green, editor of Afghanistan in Ink: Literature between Diaspora and Nation)

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0822356627
• ISBN 13: 9780822356622
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Burton Antoinette