Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan

Top positive review

True Leadership

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2012

Years ago, I caught on tv the tail end of the movie The Man Who Would Be King (TMWWBK). It starred Sean Connery and Michael Caine so, of course, I was riveted to the screen. It so piqued my interest that I looked up the title of the film in my TV Guide. Ever since then, I had been looking to borrow a copy of the movie from the local Blockbuster, but the title isn't exactly a popular favorite.

When Kindle became available on the PC, it struck me to look up TMWWBK on Amazon books. I figured, if there was a book version, I'd enjoy the piece much better than if I got hold of a DVD. Connery and Caine are two gorgeous men with a lovely accent, but I have to admit that their looks and manner of speaking sometimes gets in the way when I'm trying to understand a movie.

I was pleased to find out that there is a book version, but pretty much surprised to find out that it was written by Rudyard Kipling. I had always thought of him in terms of jungle books for kids and Gunga Din. Anyway, cheapskate that I am, learning that the author is Rudyard Kipling presented me with an added pleasure. I knew right away that there would be a free version on Kindle!

Enough of the backgrounder and on to my review proper: the book is an eye opener. It's a window into the mind of the colonizer; not the "noble" mind of the British statesman, but the more down-to-earth view of the British mercenary. It offers a simplistic analysis of what it takes to make subjects out of a bunch of natives and points out the important role of religion in the work of colonizing. It all seems so crass and mercenary, but in the end, the bumbling pair find out what true and lasting leadership requires.

This is great reading, especially for an election year like 2012. People should read this book before heading out to the polling places. And really, for Americans who take their right to vote for granted, TMWWBK will open your eyes to your responsibility to elect a true leader who will serve the people and lead them towards a shared vision of a better America for all. Enough of the squabbling and let's all get to work behind one man with a vision and the determination to serve no matter what the personal consequences.

And BTW, someone finally gifted me with my very own Kindle, the one with ads. It's a totally different experience from reading on your PC or even your iPad. It's so gentle on the eyes that I've read more books in the last few months than I have in the last five years. Not just the free classics, Amazon will be happy to note. Those ads of yours are so darn effective!

3 people found this helpful

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A. Steven Toby

Local color

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2018

In this book, Mr. Kipling's encyclopedic knowledge of British India in the 19th Century shows through. As a dose of local color the stories are great! But, I think Kipling's skills are more suited to poetry than prose, and they lack the lyrical quality so common in his poems. Still, they are well worth reading. The title story is very much like a Greek tragedy in its structure, with the heroes barely nosed out of the conquest of Kafiristan (the semi-mythical land beyond Afghanistan) where the locals think the two British soldiers are gods. The story isn't much like the movie. Two of the other stories are ghost stories where native superstition becomes shockingly real to British characters -- these are really neat if you don't mind a dose of the supernatural. Then there's a cute coming of age story about the colonel's son leading a daring rescue (Wee Willie Winkie). There's also a very poignant love story that ends tragically when a British civil servant marries a Moslem woman in secret. The attitudes and customs are represented as accurately as possible (more accurately than could be done by a present day author because that culture of the Raj no longer exists), and the stories are well crafted.
Why didn't I give them more stars? I just didn't get the feeling of greatness! But you be the judge. These stories are certainly worth your time.

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From the United States

A. Steven Toby

Local color

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2018

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3 people found this helpful

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Pippin

True Leadership

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2012

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SuZQ

Can't beat the price or the story...

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2010

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I love a great story and this is one of my favorites. It conveys the circumstances of an underappreciated newspaper man in the British Colonial era at a minor outpost in what is probably a reasonably accurate way (politically correct by current standards or not).

The characters the writer encounters were likely somewhat common after finishing military duty in a far-off land and being at somewhat loose ends once mustered out. Going a bit "native" was probably not uncommon for those stationed throughout the reaches of the British Empire at its height (and decline). Ideas by those staying behind which appear hare-brained were possibly fairly familiar given the tenuous situation some of the ex-pats may have found themselves in. Heck, it might have even worked if they'd stuck to the original plan! It gives you a lot to think about as far as power vs. ego is concerned.

Read the story first if you haven't already seen the movie. You'll appreciate the writing's compactness and choice of style and flow that way. However, my feeling is that although this is an excellent read and definitely a classic, many readers may find watching the movie (which is absolutely in my top ten favorites of all time) helpful in understanding some of the more subtle aspects of the story. For example, the fairly obscure references to the Masons' rituals (perhaps by necessity at the time of writing) - which are in effect the central underlying theme in regard to the various characters' undertakings - are made much clearer in the film.

Enjoy!

8 people found this helpful

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L. David Marquet

Comeuppance = A punishment or fate that someone deserves.

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2012

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Afghanistan has been the demise of many an outsider and one such tale is told by Rudyard Kipling in the Man Who Would Be King.

The story is a narration of a story of two Englishmen, Daniel Dravot and Preachy Carnehan, who set off from northeast India for Kafiristan (currently Nuristan) in Afghanistan. Kafiristan is populated by a pagan, tribal, fiercely independent people. The names come from Persian descriptions of the people who lived there. Kafirs are "pagans" or "infidels" and Nuris are "the enlightened ones." The renaming happened after they were conquered and converted to Islam in the 1890s. Kipling's story takes place before the subjugation. It is fictional but was inspired by historical events.

The two Englishmen make it to their destination using wile and guise. They demonstrate their superiority with rifles to kill men at a distance. They rise to power, indeed becoming kings. Their next step is to convince their people they are Gods by interpreting ancient Masonic signs. (Kipling had become a Freemason in 1885.) This works for a while until Dravot insists on a wife and it all unravels with brutal results.

It's the classic tale of comeuppance.
Read it for a interesting view of the Raj at the end of the 19th century and the moral lesson.

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Writetrak

Brilliant!!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2011

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One reviewer here said that this should be required reading for the 'troops' but as a former groundpounding grunt who fought on foreign soil, I just have to amend it to add that this should be required reading for every bloody politician and policy maker, if only to show that perhaps a little knowledge of where you are sending the troops to fight might be, oh, I dunno, a good thing. Or perhaps a whole lot more knowledge of history, culture(s), place sans arrogance could be helpful, especially since the subject takes us on an interesting journey into the early 1800s into the conflicts and troubles of Afghanistan.
MacIntye is a talented writer. Let's face it, he's good, but he's also a brilliant researcher so what we often find in his books is history with a pulse. He brings it alive again and makes it not only readable but interesting and entertaining.
The Man Who Would Be King is an interesting story but it can easily double as a reference book for any serious academic or say, a former soldier who might want to look back on why he was where he was, fighting God knows who, for whatever cause.
Good stuff, Mac. Good stuff.

4 people found this helpful

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Lindsey Peterson

Imperialism with a dash of white man's burden

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2011

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** spoiler alert ** I always enjoy Kipling, in spite of his imperialism, or maybe because of it. His portraits of expats whose only real home is the colony the live in, despite not belonging there, resonate with me for some reason. They don't fit where they are, in part, because they set themselves as separate as possible in order to not go native, and, in part, because they're afraid of being rejected or the natives turning on them.

In The Man Who Would Be King, that's just what happens when a white gets too close to the natives. When he decides to take a wife, the natives over whom he is ruling, turn against him, realizing that he is not a god, and chase him and his companion out, killing one and nearly killing the other. Their experience seems to be a warning by Kipling against getting too close to the indigenous. Yes, the colonists have a responsibility towards the natives, to educate, domesticate and civilize the natives as much as their nature will let them, but colonists always must remember that they are 'sahib' and must stay apart. By getting too close, you make yourself as one of them, and cease to be special. If you cease to be special, they will recognize you for what you are, an intruder and a conqueror who needs to be overthrown, rather than a demi-god to be obeyed and worshipped.

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Skip Hughes

Story and Film are Both Classics!

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2015

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Rudyard Kipling is one of the greatest writers of modern times. He seems to have found story-telling easy, writing for youth and for adults alike. Kipling wrote a great deal of mostly straight fiction, but he ventured effectively into fantasy as well. His short story, "The Man Who Would be King," interpreted quite faithfully, was made into a wonderful film starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery. Book and film together make that comparative rarity, wherein both are classics. Thus the story is well worth reading, especially for anyone who has enjoyed or will enjoy the film. The other stories in this brief collection are good reads also, though they may lack the familiarity that this one gains from the film.

2 people found this helpful

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G. B. Talovich

Breathtaking adventure, rib-breaking comedy

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2005

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I may be misapprehending this book, but I think this is one of the funniest books I have ever read. On the fringe of the British empire, Harlan has had a local tailor stitch together an American flag for use in recruiting the army with which he is going to win a kingdom; meanwhile, back home in Pennsylvania, his coreligionists have solemnly excommunicated him from the Quaker church. His companion John Brown, an English deserter posing as an American posing as an Ethiopian slave, is given an appropriate complexion with the aid of burnt cork. I appreciate Macintyre's sense of the absurd. He never cracks a smile, which to me contributes to the comic effect. His good taste keeps him from going overboard.

The author's writing is so good that you do not notice it. I have, as Strunk suggests, cultivated bad temper in my reading, but in the entire book found only one or two words to take issue with.

I am paying the author what I believe is the highest compliment a reader may pay an author: I am seeking out more of his books to read. I enjoyed every word of this one. I do, however, suggest that those who haven't done so yet first read Kipling's Man Who Would Be King, in order to enjoy this book even more.

6 people found this helpful

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The Man Who Would Be King

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2008

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"Brother to a Prince and fellow to a beggar if he be found worthy."

So begins Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King , with an echo of the last verse of the Masonic verse "Banquet Night," and there are a lot of references to Freemasonry in this tale, which is considered by many to be Kipling's finest short story. The story was first published in 1888, and this volume includes five of the author's best early stories: "The Phantom Rickshaw," "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes," "Wee Willie Winkie," "Without Benefit of Clergy," and the aforementioned title selection.

The author was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), in what was then British India, and he drew upon his experiences in Anglo-Indian society for much of his fiction. The winner of the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature, he was the first English language writer to receive the coveted prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. He is regarded as a master of the short story, and his books for children are considered as enduring classics of children's literature.

"The Man Who Would be King" is a unforgettable tale of adventure, and is told by a first-person narrator, a newspaperman in India who one can assume is Rudyard Kipling. While on a train, he meets a fascinating opportunist: "He was a wanderer and a vagabond like myself, but with an educated taste for whiskey. He told tales of things he had seen and done, of out-of-the-way corners of the Empire into which he had penetrated, and of adventures in which he risked his life for a few days' food."

The narrator soon learns that Daniel Dravot and his fellow vagabond, Peachey Carnehan, are both passing themselves off as journalists for the newspaper for which the narrator is a real correspondent. He is fascinated by them, but does stop them from blackmailing a minor Indian rajah.

Some months later, they appear at his office in Lahore, and tell him their plan. In the words of Daniel Dravot, they have been "Soldier, sailor, compositor, photographer, proof-reader, street-preacher, and correspondents of the 'Backwoodsman' when we thought the paper wanted one. Carnehan is sober, and so am I. Look at us first and see that's sure. It will save you cutting into my talk. We'll take one of your cigars apiece, and you shall see us light."

The paid have have decided India isn't enough for them, and the next day they will go off to Kafiristan, to set themselves up as kings. They were going through the Khaiber with a regular caravan and with Dravot disguised as a native priest, stating, "Who'd touch a poor mad priest?" They have twenty Martini rifles, and with their camels, they plan to find a tribal leader, help him defeat his enemies, then take over for themselves.

The pair sign a "Contrack" (contract) as "Gentlemen at Large," with the narrator as witness, in which they will together "be Kings of Kafiristan," not "look at any Liquor, nor any Woman," and that if one gets into trouble "the other will stay by him." They ask the narrator for the use of maps and books of the area, as a favor because they are fellow Freemasons, and because he spoiled their earlier blackmail scheme.

Two years pass, and on a hot summer night, an almost unrecognizable Peachey Carnehan creeps into the narrator's office, a broken man, a crippled beggar clad in rags. He tells an astonishing tale of how Daniel Dravot and he had succeeded in becoming Kafiri kings, taking over villages, and building a unified nation in Kafiristan (in modern-day Afghanistan). Carnehan explains how the Kafiris (who were pagans, not Moslems) came to regard Dravot as a god, and the immortal son of Alexander the Great. The Kafiris practiced a form of Masonic ritual, and the pair secrets of Freemasons that only the oldest priest remembered.

But Carnehan explains that their grand schemes were shattered when Dravot made a decision that brought their kingdom down around them. And to explain any further would spoil the final outcome of this amazing tale.

This complete story takes all of thirty pages, all in the center of this book, and many of the scholarly papers about it over the years are larger. The Masonic connections to the growth and demise of the British Empire have been covered by many. It's a true literary masterpiece, and it's quite apparent that Kipling was quite conscious of the fact that the British Empire of that time was not eternal.

It's no wonder that the late John Huston chose Kipling's tale to create his epic 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King , which starred Sean Connery (Daniel Dravot), Michael Caine (Peachey Carnehan) and Christopher Plummer (Rudyard Kipling). It had a great supporting performance from Saeed Jaffrey and a rare but pivotal appearance by Michael Caine's wife, Shakira. It's a film that director John Huston had planned for years, and was nominated for four Academy Awards. The film is very true to Kipling's story, but goes into less Masonic detail.

One of the more interesting aspects of this tale is that it was loosely based on historical fact, of which Kipling was aware. Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker, journeyed to Afghanistan in the 1820s, and through a series of wheeling and dealing, was crowned the Prince of Ghor (a province in central Afghanistan). Ben Macintyre's book The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan details his story, including Freemason Harlan trading secrets with an old Rosicrucian sorcerer in an Afghan cave, and how the the British overthrow of the sitting Afghan ruler soon forced his departure.

But going back to Kipling's tale, the inevitable question arises: which is better, the book or the movie? That would be a difficult answer for this reviewer, as both have been real favorites for many years, and John Huston had gone out of his way to keep his film as true to Kipling's story as possible. Would have to say that I rate them equally, and can easily recommend them as 5-star choices.

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Jeffrey Swystun

Enduring Page Turner

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2011

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There is something about the three main characters and the audacious plan that is hatched that will endure. For anyone that has traveled with frequency, you will recognize the two scruffy adventurers as predecessors to the free spirits who currently search the world for their place. Dravot and Carnehan are likable rogues with a plan, rifles, and gall. They intend to roll up wide sections of the Afghani frontier under their rule as benevolent dictators. They are ultimately successful but Dravot strays from the very principles that established them in the wild and they are soon challenged as rulers. Consider it the Peter Principle in the extreme. It is at all times humorous, dark, a travelogue, and a cautionary tale. Kipling exposes us to a new frontier both geographically and humanistically and it is a wild, fast ride.

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