You are browsing the forum as a guest. Please log in or register to access additional features.
Online reading group and book discussion forum
  HOME ABOUT BOOKS TRANSCRIPTS LINKS BLOGS DONATE CONTACT  

     Log in   Register 


BookTalk.org News
• BookTalk.org News will soon go out via email in HTML format. The goal will be to keep people posted on our current book discussions and other relevant news items.
• Contest #2: "On The Importance of Reading" has started. Visit the Contests forum - the very top thread.

Links & Resources

Community Rules & Tips
For Authors & Publishers
Link to our old forum
Books we've ordered
Book Suggestions
Donations to BookTalk.org
BookTalk Forum Statistics
Games 170 FREE Games


Donate & Support BookTalk.org

Please support our free community by making a credit card donation through our secure PayPal account. We appreciate and depend on the generosity of our members. Thank you!

See who supports us


Show us where you live!
BookTalk.org Member Map

Featured Member Blogs

Theomanic's blog
Lawrenceindestin's blog
Penelope's blog
Frank 013's blog
President Camacho's blog

- All Member Blogs
- Blog News


Chat Room

Enter the BookTalk.org Chat Room
Enter Chat Room

Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device

Author Interviews

•Noam Chomsky
   Interventions
• Eugenie C. Scott
   Evolution vs. Creationism
• A.C. Grayling
   What is Good?
• Lee Harris
   Civilization and Its Enemies
• Ann Druyan
   Pale Blue Dot
• Michael Shermer
   How We Believe
• Matt Ridley
   The Red Queen
• Stephen Pinker
   The Blank Slate
• Massimo Pigliucci
   Rationally Speaking
• Richard Dawkins
   Unweaving the Rainbow
• Howard Bloom
   Global Brain
• Howard Bloom
   The Lucifer Principle




Related Links

Display Pagerank


Info: Historical background about Afghanistan.


 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BookTalk.org Forum Index -> Archived Book Discussions 2008 -> A Thousand Splendid Suns - by Khaled Hosseini
Author Message
Ophelia Ophelia has been starred
Beyond Awesome
Fiction Moderator
Book Discussion Leader

Avatar



Joined: 25 Nov 2007

Posts: 1073
Gender: Female
Location: France
ee.gif



PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:09 am    Post subject: Info: Historical background about Afghanistan. Reply with quote
1- Ophelia’s introduction:

what I had learnt from history books and novels about the (then) mighty British Empire showed that attempts to raid or rule Afghanistan only ended in dismal failure – at sometimes heavy cost for would-be occupiers. In 1841, the British army under General Elphinstone’s command, as well as large numbers of British civilians, had to retreat from Kabul back to British India. Most of them (about 17,000 people) died in the attempt. The story was told again and again in British India for generations.

The lesson from History, as has often been the case, was lost upon the next century.

For an account of the events in 1841, for those interested (as I am!) in a very British English account, both culturally and linguistically:

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=morris&book=english&story =massacre


For a really exhaustive and informative account of the British and Russian Empires’ Great Game which centered on Afghanistan, I suggest:
http://www.historybookshop.com/articles/commentary/afghanistan-two-inv asions.asp


2- A link to an excellent overview of Afghan history ( 1919- 2001) from the BBC News website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1162108.stm
Back to top
JulianTheApostate JulianTheApostate has been starred
Sophomore





Joined: 23 Jul 2005

Posts: 286
Gender: Male



PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Here's a working link to the BBC timeline:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1162108.stm

The Wikipedia article on the history of Afghanistan isn't up to typical Wikipedia standards, but it gives you something to start with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Afghanistan
Back to top
WildCityWoman WildCityWoman has been starred
Sophomore





Joined: 13 Jan 2008

Posts: 282
Gender: None specified



PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:44 pm    Post subject: You are a true scholar, Jules . . . Reply with quote
I'd love to visit there - but like so many places in the world, even if I was free to go there, it's just too damn dangerous at this time.

Every time somebody gets on a plane to go somewhere, I wonder if they're coming back intact.

Hopefully, the difficulties of the world will come to an end some day and it will be safe to travel.

India is my first choice - as soon as I'm able (which I doubt will happen), I'm going there. I want to drag my bare feet through all the dusty roads and look into the faces of everyone.

Jeff (my husband) does not want to go and I wouldn't go without him. Sooooo . . .

Grrrrrrrrr!

Carly
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BookTalk.org Forum Index -> Archived Book Discussions 2008 -> A Thousand Splendid Suns - by Khaled Hosseini  
Page 1 of 1


 
Recent Topics
» Does hell exist?
by dillonbrownsisland on Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:20 pm

» New novel out and also winner of the Indie Book Award
by dillonbrownsisland on Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:12 pm

» An Introduction from California/New author!
by dillonbrownsisland on Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:05 pm

» What is Transcendentalism?
by Thomas Hood on Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:04 pm

» Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
by psyops on Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:20 pm

» Did the Holocaust really happen? - a serious discussion
by psyops on Sun Jul 06, 2008 4:27 pm

» Thoreau's Method of Composition
by President Camacho on Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:55 pm

» new and inexperienced
by Chris OConnor on Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:54 pm

» Mabuhay/Hello/Hallo
by Chris OConnor on Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:49 pm

» Hello from NJ - BabyBlues
by Chris OConnor on Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:31 pm


Related Links



Related Links


BookTalk.org Suggests


The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Won't Get Fooled Again by Joseph H. Boyett

Another Time by Roger Neetz

The Art of Hanging by W. Town Andrews, Jr.

Dark Canvas by Jody Summers

Additional Book Suggestions


Related Links

Poll
Have you ever parked in a handicapped spot?

Yes [1]
No [2]

You must login to vote


MAIN NAVIGATION

HOMEABOUTBOOKSTRANSCRIPTSOLD FORUMSLINKSBLOGSFAQDONATECONTACT

BOOKS WE HAVE DISCUSSED
The Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King • 50 reasons people give for believing in a god by Guy P. Harrison • The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor • Walden: Or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau • Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus • Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are by Frans de Waal • Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year-History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin • No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy • The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby • Ten Theories of Human Nature by Leslie Stevenson & David Haberman • Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad • The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature by Stephen Pinker • A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini • The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo • Responsibility and Judgment by Hannah Arendt • Interventions by Noam Chomsky • Godless in America by George A. Ricker • Religious Expression and the American Constitution by Franklyn S. Haiman • Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Phil McKibben • The God Delusion by Richard DawkinsThe Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared DiamondThe Woman in the Dunes by Abe KoboEvolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction by Eugenie C. ScottThe Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael PollanI, Claudius : From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 by Robert GravesBreaking The Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. DennettA Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East Peace by David FromkinThe Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey NiffeneggerThe End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam HarrisEnder's Game by Orson Scott CardThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark HaddonValue and Virtue in a Godless Universe by Erik J. WielenbergThe March by E. L DoctorowThe Ethical Brain by Michael GazzanigaFreethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan JacobyCollapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared DiamondThe Battle for God by Karen ArmstrongThe Future of Life by Edward O. WilsonWhat is Good? The Search for the Best Way to Live by A. C. GraylingCivilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History by Lee HarrisPale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl SaganHow We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God by Michael ShermerLooking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain by Antonio DamasioLies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al FrankenThe Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt RidleyThe Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Stephen PinkerUnweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard DawkinsAtheism: A Reader edited by S.T. JoshiGlobal Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From the Big Bang To the 21st Century by Howard BloomThe Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of Nature by Howard BloomGuns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared DiamondThe Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl SaganBury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee BrownFuture Shock by Alvin Toffler

OTHER PAGES
Baloney Detection KitBanned Book ListBook OrdersMassimo Pigliucci Rationally SpeakingOnline Reading GroupTop 10 Atheism Books

Copyright © BookTalk.org 2002-2008. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group