The Afghans
On sale
7th August 2025
Price: £12.99
Genre
‘As an exploration of the social fabric of Afghan life, this book takes some beating’ Daily Telegraph
‘A valuable addition to the canon of literature on Afghanistan … [Seierstad] manages to achieve a rare intimacy’ New York Times
‘Åsne Seierstad is one of the greatest, most courageous journalists of our time. . . This is an important, heartbreaking book’ Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
From the internationally bestselling author of The Bookseller of Kabul, this is an unforgettable portrait of three people living under the Taliban today.
There is Jamila, a women’s rights activist who got an education when few women could; Bashir, a Taliban commander who grew up eager to avenge a father killed by security forces; and Ariana, a law student who is now barred from her university and facing the prospect of an arranged marriage to a man she does not love. Through the stories of these three Afghans, we experience what it is to live under the Taliban now, and think about where this leaves Afghans today, and tomorrow.
‘Ambitious … absorbing’ Boston Globe
‘An astonishing feat of writing and reporting . . . one of the finest books written on Afghanistan in a generation’ Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity
‘Harrowing, uplifting, fascinating, challenging and profound, no other recent book on the subject comes close’ CPW Gammell, author of The Pearl of Khorasan: A History of Herat
‘Åsne Seierstad is the supreme non-fiction writer of her generation’ Luke Harding
‘A valuable addition to the canon of literature on Afghanistan … [Seierstad] manages to achieve a rare intimacy’ New York Times
‘Åsne Seierstad is one of the greatest, most courageous journalists of our time. . . This is an important, heartbreaking book’ Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
From the internationally bestselling author of The Bookseller of Kabul, this is an unforgettable portrait of three people living under the Taliban today.
There is Jamila, a women’s rights activist who got an education when few women could; Bashir, a Taliban commander who grew up eager to avenge a father killed by security forces; and Ariana, a law student who is now barred from her university and facing the prospect of an arranged marriage to a man she does not love. Through the stories of these three Afghans, we experience what it is to live under the Taliban now, and think about where this leaves Afghans today, and tomorrow.
‘Ambitious … absorbing’ Boston Globe
‘An astonishing feat of writing and reporting . . . one of the finest books written on Afghanistan in a generation’ Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity
‘Harrowing, uplifting, fascinating, challenging and profound, no other recent book on the subject comes close’ CPW Gammell, author of The Pearl of Khorasan: A History of Herat
‘Åsne Seierstad is the supreme non-fiction writer of her generation’ Luke Harding
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Reviews
Ambitious...absorbing...Burrowing into both Afghan family life and the country's convoluted politics, the book follows three people over several decades, culminating in the dramatic first year of the Taliban restoration...Seierstad's short, punchy sentences, ably translated by Seán Kinsella, draw readers into the narrative
A valuable addition to the canon of literature on Afghanistan . . . [Seierstad] manages to achieve a rare intimacy
Enthralling and heart-breaking
A heartbreaking account
As an exploration of the social fabric of Afghan life, this book takes some beating. It's also a deft history of the country since the 1960s, charting its journey from hippy hang-out to Soviet satellite state, jihadist battleground, and finally, failed nation-building project
A gripping, richly textured account of Afghanistan's ordeal that humanizes all sides
The Afghans is an astonishing feat of writing and reporting and one of the finest books written on Afghanistan in a generation. I could not put this book down. On each page, as she follows these three lives with empathy and care, Åsne Seierstad is working at the very pinnacle of her prodigious powers. A clarion demanding we do not look away
Seierstad chronicles years of war and the rise and resurgence of the Taliban through the intimate, affecting portraits of three lives lived in history's shadow
Seierstad is masterful . . . her book is world class
Indelible portraits of people struggling to survive in a war-torn land
The Afghans is not simply an addictively engrossing read, but is also a work of real importance as we come to terms with Afghanistan's recent past and the return of the Taliban. This is a deeply human piece of writing which approaches the war through the eyes of the Afghans, men and women, who lived it, who made impossible choices at difficult moments, and who continue to live with the consequences. Harrowing, uplifting, fascinating, challenging and profound, no other recent book on the subject comes close
Gripping . . . Seierstad succeeds in transforming the demonised stereotype - a Taliban terrorist - into a living, comprehensible human being
Åsne Seierstad is one of the greatest, most courageous journalists of our time. While others were desperately fleeing Afghanistan, Seierstad traveled there alone to see the impact of the Taliban victory. This is an important, heartbreaking book about the limits of military power, religious fundamentalism, America's broken promises, and the profound betrayal of Afghan women