The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

#Just Amazing (2008-11-23) One of the most touching books I have read in a long time. It is just amazing how much we can do with a little bit of financial help to these NGO s like CIA. I have decided to become a regular contributor of these noble cause, just because of this book. You have to read it, you will never regret you did.

#Inspiring (2008-11-22) What an inspiring book! This is a great read about what one person can do with a vision and very little resources. His tenacity is incredible. Hooray for Greg Mortenson!

#Would have been a great article (2008-11-19) This is a tale about a remarkable man - unfortunately it is not very well written. Even tho the action takes place in different towns, it is basically the same story over and over. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in building schools for the poor in Pakistan and also as an aid to sleeplessness.

#3 and a half stars (2008-11-19) The story itself was quite amazing but I found it difficult to read at times. I think it could have been much shorter. . . I could not keep all of the people straight about halfway through the book. It must have been difficult to write this book with so many stories to tell but it bordered on boring and tedious at times. It would pick up for a while and then I d be bleary-eyed again a few pages later. I really liked the beginning of the story and felt connected to his mission and promise but then I started to think he was a bit off (good inten...

#No wonder it unanimously gets 5 stars (2008-11-18) Truly one of the most inspirational books I have read in awhile. The beginning of this book is a little slow, focusing on Greg Mortenson s climbing expeditions that eventually leads him to find the people of Korphe, and promising them a school. After coming back to the states and scrounging up funds from philanthropists, Mortenson goes back and builds many schools in various regions through Pakistan/Afghanistan/Waziristan. And the story of his determination and the struggles he goes through are extremely inspirational. There is no o...

The Partition of India in 1947 promised its people both political and religious freedom—through the liberation of India from British rule, and the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Instead, the geographical divide brought displacement and death, and it benefited the few at the expense of the very many. Thousands of women were raped, at least one million people were killed, and ten to fifteen million were forced to leave their homes as refugees. One of the first events of decolonization in the twentieth century, Partition was also one of the most bloody. In this book Yasmin Khan examines the context, execution, and aftermath of Partition, weaving together local politics and ordinary lives with the larger political forces at play. She exposes the widespread obliviousness to what Partition would entail in practice and how it would affect the populace. Drawing together fresh information from an array of sources, Khan underscores the catastrophic human cost and shows why the re...

#Commendable, succinct history (2008-07-15) While many books demonize India or Pakistan in the blame game of partition, Yasmin Khan indicates there was a shared breakdown of Hindu and Muslim trust leading up to the event. This was exacerbated by the clumsy imposition of premature partition upon India and Pakistan by the British government. Without making clear what partition meant or how it would be implemented, fears were greatly magnified, leading to some of the worst civil violence in India-Pakistan history, a virtual state of ethnic cleansing existed, perpetrated by extremists ...

#An excellent context on partition (2008-04-05) Most histories of the Indian Partition focus on the leadership but this one actually provides the social, economic and human context of the event. Khan is very balanced in her analysis identifying the forces that were building in the run-up to the Partition. The tragic consequences of these forces were were inevitable but they were ignored by native and colonial leaders due to either their incompetence or their indulgence. While lots of evil was committed by both sides, the book illustrates the uncertain context in which such evil wa...

#Erudite reading (2008-02-18) This is a well-researched and well-written book on a very touchy issue of the division of the Indian sub-continent. A well-biased version as well. The author took pains to dissect the various sources, taking into account their biases and prejudices, and tried to portray the true unfoldings of the game the British played, which they thought played very cunningly. People are still suffering from the left-over mess, be it in India-Pakistan, be it in middle-east.

#Not Impressed (2007-12-01) I bought this book after reading a positive review in the Economist. I am not sure why it has attracted such stellar reviews everywhere. The prose I found uninspiring. The narrative throws no new light on the history of the partition. Yes, it does focus a great deal on the experience of the common man, but I don t see what makes this book deserving of such praise.

#The Great Partition -- an excellent history (2007-09-26) I bought this book after reading the positive review in The Economist. Khan does an excellent job showing the enormity and tragedy of Partition in people s lives -- more or less ignoring the diplomatic and political history that has been well covered in other works. History is always told with hindsight, Khan shows convincingly that while Partition was widely supported (and opposed), no one, not even the leaders who pushed it hardest had any understanding of what it would do to their country. Although there is an epilogue refl...

Fifty years ago, seconds after midnight on 14-15 August 1947, the Union Jack, emblazoned with the Star of India, began its final journey down the flagstaff of Viceroy s House, New Delhi. One fifth of humanity claimed their independence from the greatest empire history has ever seen. But 400 million people were to find that the price of freedom was partition and war, riot and murder. In this new edition of their superb reconstruction of events at the time, Collins and Lapierre recount the eclipse of the fabled British Raj and examine the roles enacted by, among others, Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Mountbatten, Nehru and Jinnah in its violent transformation into the new India and Pakistan.

#This book should be required reading in all courses covering the twentieth century (2008-10-12) The crown of the British Empire was always India, yet ruling it was a very complex task due to the enormous number of different religious and ethnic groups. When it became clear after the end of the Second World War that Britain would be forced to grant independence to her Indian colony, Lord Mountbatten was appointed to the post of the final British Viceroy to the colony. Once the British flag was lowered for the last time at midnight, hence the title, it was up to the people of India to ...

#Great Book Poor Binding (2008-08-27) There are two ways to review a book. One is by content another by the quality of the book itself. The content of Freedom is great. The best single read to understand the tensions between the modern states of India and Pakistan. Laprie and Collins are at their best here. However I was disapointed to find the quality of the book itself was poor. The paper was substandard ( close to newspaper quality). The Picture on the hard back was seeminly glued and ofset. The plates ( pictures) inside the book were hard to see and the captions were d...

#One great account of the Indian partition (2008-07-31) Reads like a novel, with the detail required to feel the action, but with the sweep of history to put it in perspective for readers. Collins and Lapierre are a great writing team and this is one of their best works. Invaluable for those beginning to read about the subcontinent as well as long-time students. I give it my highest recommendation.

#One of the most comprehensive and intimate looks at the forming of modern India. (2008-05-27) I read this while living in India and found it to be the truest expression and understanding of India s complexities, intricate culture, and history. The book covers India s liberation from British rule from the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as viceroy through to the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi. With India itself as the protagonist, you sympathize with the great mother s birthing pains and cry with her as she loses thousands of her children during the massacres of the partitioning of ...

#Skillfully written, absorbing story (2007-07-19) This book inspired Miguel Sousa Tavares own book,Equador, apparently, but only conceptually (I didn tread the latter. )There s a new edition, from India VIKAS PUBLISHING HOUSE,based in Jangpura, New Delhi, 1997. Found mine in usedbook store, in mint condition.

Daughter of Destiny, the autobiography of Benazir Bhutto, is a historical document of uncommon passion and courage, the dramatic story of a brilliant, beautiful woman whose life was, up to her tragic assassination in 2007, inexorably tied to her nation s tumultuous history. Bhutto writes of growing up in a family of legendary wealth and near-mythic status, a family whose rich heritage survives in tales still passed from generation to generation. She describes her journey from this protected world onto the volatile stage of international politics through her education at Radcliffe and Oxford, the sudden coup that plunged her family into a prolonged nightmare of threats and torture, her father s assassination by General Zia ul-Haq in 1979, and her grueling experience as a political prisoner in solitary confinement. With candor and courage, Benazir Bhutto recounts her triumphant political rise from her return to Pakistan from exile in 1986 through the extraordinary events of 1988: the ...

#A Brilliant Portrayal of the Velvet Underground of Pakistan s Political Games (2008-10-16) This is an extraordinary re-evaluation of the political history of Pakistan through the lens of the Bhutto s family. It describes with literary paintings the primacy and legacy of political violence that has made Pakistan very prominent in world news, during the last four decades. Next, it is a brush up of Benazir s own political heritage. The book is best suited for an introduction in modern Pakistan s political history for beginners: it provides a literal analysis of the key stakeholders i...

#An inspiring story by a truly brave and loyal woman... (2008-09-05) This is a wonderful book about an impressive woman. I ve learned so much about the Pakistani culture. It s helped me to better understand the way this Moslem country thinks. This book has pointed out more strongly than ever that not all Moslems want violence and that there are many good people out there trying to fight against extremists who are trying to dominate the many middle eastern/asian countries. Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography

#An Autobiography not a balanced history of Modern Pakistan (2008-05-18) Benazir Bhutto, mother, first Woman and two-time Prime Minister, and life-long Pakistani patriot, sets forth her version of Pakistani history here - at least the history during her and her father s reign. Her version is a private chronicling of her public life, her educational years, and her years incarcerated, under house arrest, and in exile. It is often laced with bitter memories and understandable bitterness expressed towards the murderer of her father, ex-President Zia-ul-Haq, towards those who were respons...

#The early Bhutto (2007-12-27) Benazir Bhutto, on the brink of a political comeback against the odds in several ways, was assassinated after a political rally on December 27, 2007. Bhutto is an impressive figure from a prominent political family, whose history includes several untimely deaths -- her own father, a Prime Minister of Pakistan, was killed in a coup in the 1970s, her brothers were killed in suspicious circumstances. Now Bhutto herself has been lost, and likely the aftermath will continue in different ways for some time to come, both internally to Pakistan as well as int...

#History maker (2003-01-23) Benazir Bhutto has acquired an eminent place in history of Muslim world. She is the first Muslim elected prime minister of any Muslim country in 1400-year history. This book, no doubt, is part of Pakistan s history now. She talks very eloquently about the atrocities that her family endured during long dictator ship of Asia s model dictator ZIA-UL-HAQUE, who overturned Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto s elected government in a military coup. Z. A. Bhutto had the courage to challenge the WHITE ELEPHANT, and subsequently loose his power and face assassination at hands ...

First time in paperback, with a new Introduction and final chapter World affairs expert and intrepid travel journalist Robert D. Kaplan braved the dangers of war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s, living among the mujahidin—the “soldiers of god”—whose unwavering devotion to Islam fueled their mission to oust the formidable Soviet invaders. In Soldiers of God we follow Kaplan’s extraordinary journey and learn how the thwarted Soviet invasion gave rise to the ruthless Taliban and the defining international conflagration of the twenty-first century.Kaplan returns a decade later and brings to life a lawless frontier. What he reveals is astonishing: teeming refugee camps on the deeply contentious Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a war front that combines primitive fighters with the most technologically advanced weapons known to man, rigorous Islamic indoctrination academies, a land of minefields plagued by drought, fierce tribalism, insurmountable ethnic and religious divisions, an aby...

#Not the best book on Afghanistan or War-reporting, but not a total waste of time either (2008-06-29) I developed quite a dislike for Kaplan as I read this book, but the subject matter was sufficiently fascinating to help me forgive his not-entirely-subtle dislike of Asians. This book provides an on the ground view of the Soviet Invasion and subsequent chaos. The glimpses of Afghani society, although mostly confined to men involved in war, and the physical descriptions of Afghanistan s landscape were captivating. Kaplan seems quite enamored of the Pashtun culture, especially in com...

#Please Read Robert Kaplan (2008-03-26) Really another outstanding book by Kaplan. In depth and personal view of the mujahidin in Afghanistan in the 80 s. Kaplan may be a little biased, or wonder struck by the personalities he interviewed and lived with, and at times is self-congratulatory about his prescience, however, he acknowledges both facts in his re-written foreword. Neither of these points dilute the quality of this book, though. For me, it was a great read that illuminated class and clan struggle in Afghanistan, and a wonderful distinction between religious fundamental...

#The Many Worlds of Afghanistan (2007-08-03) I read Soldiers of God at the same time that I read The Bookseller of Kabul (for book club) and found Soldiers to be an enlightening companion read because while Bookseller focused on one family in Kabul, its interpersonal dynamics, and how religion and culture affected its members, Soldiers gave a broader view of various groups and their political and personal dynamics in Afghanistan. Also, both books were written by Western journalists, which gave the books a somewhat similar (though by no means identical) perspective on Afghanistan, alt...

#A first rate book on Afghanistan (2006-06-10) Kaplan is an American journalist who made several trips into Afghanistan during the time that the Soviet Union had occupied Afghanistan and was intent on turning Afghanistan into a communist country. In his trips, Kaplan experienced and describes the life common to all mountain peoples, the cruelty and gruesomeness of war especially in its counter-insurgency edition, and the traditions of the different Afghan tribes. He describes the leaders of the resistance, except for the Islamist factions, who are all but ignored, and the various rath...

#zzzzzz... (2006-04-29) As a college student, I am required certain books for my history class. The firsthand account books I have read this semester have been very enjoyable (Kaffir Boy & Son of the Revolution). However, even though Soldiers of God is a firsthand account of Robert Kaplan traveling in Afghanistan & Pakistan during the Soviet invasion & occupation, it was one of the most boring books I have ever read. I could barely read 3 pages without beginning to doze off. The action is limited and sporadic and the commentary is less than stellar. If you are looking for a...