{"product_id":"9781408831595","title":"Return of a King","description":"SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2013'Dazzling' Sunday Times'Magnificent' Guardian'Sparkling' Daily TelegraphIn the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first   time. Nearly 20,000   British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain   passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.On   the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of   occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and   the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan  War  ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the nineteenth   century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world   ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen.Using a range of forgotten Afghan and Indian sources, William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of   Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful parable  of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris. Return of a King is history at its most urgent and important.'As taut and richly embroidered as a great novel ... this book is a masterpiece' Sunday Telegraph","brand":"William Dalrymple","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47821241450814,"sku":"9781408831595","price":415.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/products\/9781408831595_123dd311-d252-49cb-bb71-97544d17985d.jpg?v=1707446208","url":"https:\/\/exclusivebooks.co.za\/products\/9781408831595","provider":"Exclusive Books Online","version":"1.0","type":"link"}