The Khyber Pass is a strategic and historic pass that links Pakistan to Afghanistan. As Paddy Docherty describes in his wonderful book (see my review), the pass has seen History passing through since Alexander the Great. Today, the role of the pass has not diminished.
Yesterday, a bridge in the Khyber Pass has been blown up, cutting the main road of supply to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
A nice flowing history of the civilizations of Eurasia, from Alexander the Great to US involvement in Afghanistan, from the perspective of one specific location, the Khyber Pass, a narrow passage through the mountains between modern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The choice to retrace History from that unique location enables the reader to finally put all the pieces that we have learnt in school together and gives the satisfaction of finishing a puzzle. But the book also teaches new pieces, such as the history of the Nomadic peoples that kept storming from the Eurasian steppe (why?), a history so wonderful but unfortunately so neglected in western education, or the history of the remnants of Alexander's empire, known as the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, who survived many centuries after Alexander's demise and left a profound influence of Greek culture in Asia. You will also learnt why so many former officers of the Napoleonian armies found themselves to serve the Sikh's king, or why the present events occuring in Afghanistan appear as the returning ghosts of what happened there over the last two centuries...
I highly recommend it. And the nice illustrations scattered throughout the book add another layer of beauty.
