JOSIAH THE GREAT
The True Story of the Man Who Would Be King
BEN MACINTYRE
Harper Press
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in 2004 by HarperCollinsPublishers
Copyright © Ben Macintyre 2004
Q and A with Ben Macintyre/A Conqueror Gone Native © Sarah Vine 2005
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Ben Macintyre asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007151073
Ebook Edition © JULY 2010 ISBN: 9780007406852 Version: 2015-10-20
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‘Harlan is a fascinating figure, and Macintyre brings him magnificently back to life in a portrait that carries complete conviction. Josiah the Great is perhaps his most accomplished book: as compelling as it is humorous, thoughtful and well written … Ben Macintyre has succeeded in adding a completely new chapter to the tale, and one overlooked by all previous writers’
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, Times Literary Supplement
‘The saga of the first Afghan war, one of the greatest disasters ever met by the British army, has been told many times before … But Ben Macintyre has found a wholly original angle on it. A riveting book and a valuable contribution to Great Game literature’
MATTHEW LEEMING, Spectator
‘With Afghanistan already long gone from the headlines, Ben Macintyre provides a timely historical reminder of the perils of messing about in foreign lands. The entertainingly improbable Josiah the Great is the ultimate in exotic’
JUSTIN MAROZZI
‘Ben Macintyre has extricated [Harlan] from obscurity, in a book as compelling as its subject’
Daily Mail
‘Ben Macintyre tells a wonderfully compelling story. Like so many of the best biographers Macintyre has fleshed out a figure who merits only a meagre index-entry in most histories but whose experience helps to bring to life an entire period’
PHILIP MARSDEN, Sunday Telegraph
For Barney, Finn and Molly
If I want a crown I must go hunt it for myself.
RUDYARD KIPLING, ‘The Man who Would be King’
Contents
5 The Dervish From Chester County
7 Kabul, Conspiracy And Cholera
13 Prometheus From Pennsylvania
15 Camel Connoisseur And Grape Agent
EPILOGUE KABUL, SEPTEMBER 2002