Much of the political turmoil that has occurred in Afghanistan since the Marxist revolution of 1978 has been attributed to the dispute between Soviet-aligned Marxists and the religious extremists inspired by Egyptian and Pakistani brands of "fundamentalist" Islam. In a significant departure from this view, David B. Edwards contends that—though Marxism and radical Islam have undoubtedly played a significant role in the conflict—Afghanistan's troubles derive less from foreign forces and the ideological divisions between groups than they do from the moral incoherence of Afghanistan itself. Seeking the historical and cultural roots of the conflict, Edwards examines the lives of three significant figures of the late nineteenth century—a tribal khan, a Muslim saint, and a prince who became king of the newly created state. He explores the ambiguities and contradictions of these lives and the stories that surround them, arguing that conflicting values within an artificially-created state are at the root of Afghanistan's current instability.

Building on this foundation, Edwards examines conflicting narratives of a tribal uprising against the British Raj that broke out in the summer of 1897. Through an analysis of both colonial and native accounts, Edwards investigates the saint's role in this conflict, his relationship to the Afghan state and the tribal groups that followed him, and the larger issue of how Islam traditionally functions as an encompassing framework of political association in frontier society.

David B. Edwards is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Williams College and Director of the Williams Afghan Media Project.

"This book, sophisticated, lucid, and compassionate, should be read by more than specialists in Afghanistan. For them, undoubtedly, it is a must."—American Historical Review

"Innovative in its methods and daring in the breadth of its conclusions, this well-written work teases new possibilities out of historical materials."—Choice

"Making a virtue of necessity is perhaps the most important lesson an ethnographer has to learn, and David Edwards has learned it brilliantly. Unable to pursue his planned research in Afghanistan due to the ongoing warfare there, he was obliged to remain in the refugee camps of Pakistan. There, dispossessed Afghan men, seeking to retain some purchase on their past, told stories of great heroes and epic battle of the last century. Edwards provided an audience for these narratives and uses them as the centerpiece for his striking portrait of this much brutalized society. . . . The whole book is well structured, gracefully written, and convincingly done. I envy Edwards’s ability to convey the central ethical options of Pashtun men so skillfully. . . . In this fine book David Edwards has raised disturbing and important questions about the very nature of culture and of morality."—American Anthropologist

"[This book] deals with the narrative world of Afghan tribesmen living on the Pakistani side of the border . . . . Yet the stories that people chose to tell the author do not deal so much with their displacement as they do with the moral fiber of Afghan society. . . . Building on Hayden White’s argument that narrativity’s function is to moralize reality, Edwards demonstrates that stories embody the codes by which humans construct behavioral patterns. . . . He convincingly suggests that the narratives analyzed convey profound moral contradictions . . . . These contradictions, he contends have hindered the construction of a coherent civil society in Afghanistan, espeically during the last century."—Asian Folklore

"Edwards offers . . . interesting and readable analyses, notably that of Amir Abdur Rahman’s Edict and the event of 1897, which those with a specialized knowledge of the Afghan scene will surely enjoy."—Asian Affairs

"This is a wonderful, absorbing, moving book."—Barbara Metcalf, University of California, Davis

"An original and significant work that is beautifully written and passionately engaged with material that is fascinating from start to finish. It is one of the best first books I have read in a long, long time."—Steven Caton, New School for Social Research

"A telling analytical juxtaposition of texts in family oral history, saint's legend, autobiography, and edict, amounting to a new approach to Middle Eastern discourse analysis and social history."—Margaret Mills, University of Pennsylvania

Read an article about David Edwards at the New York Times

View information about the Williams Afthan Media Project