The Man Who Would be King and Other S..., Rudyard Kipling
The Man Who Would be King and Other S..., Rudyard Kipling
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The Man Who Would be King and Other Stories

Author: Rudyard Kipling

Narrator: George Taylor

Unabridged: 3 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/07/2008

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great. The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago. Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British. Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlan's own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king.

About Rudyard Kipling

Short-story writer, novelist, and poet Rudyard Kipling was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature and was hailed as a literary heir to Charles Dickens. His most popular works include The Jungle Books, Kim, and "The Man Who Would Be King." Audiences love his romantic tales about the adventures of Englishmen in strange and distant parts of the world. Characteristic of Kipling is sympathy for the children's world, a satirical attitude toward pompous patriotism, and belief in the blessings and superiority of the British rule. Although he was widely regarded as Britain's unofficial poet laureate, Kipling refused the honor, as well as the Order of Merit.

Kipling was born in 1865 in British-ruled Bombay, India, where his father was an arts and crafts teacher. At age six, he was put in a London foster home, and it was here that he began writing, influenced by his pre-Raphaelite ancestors. When Kipling was thirteen, he entered United Services College, an expensive military boarding school. His poor eyesight and mediocre grades ended his hopes for a military career. These years are recalled in a lighter tone in his book Stalky & Co.

Kipling returned to India in 1882, where he worked as a journalist, an assistant editor, and an overseas correspondent. Seven years later, Kipling moved back to London and married Caroline Starr Balestier, the sister of an American publisher and writer. They moved to the United States but, dissatisfied with life in Vermont and distraught by the death of his daughter, Kipling moved his family back to England. Still restless, he poured his energy into writing and produced The Jungle Books.

During the Boer War, Kipling spent several months in South Africa. In 1901, he published Kim, which is widely considered his best novel. Kipling received the Nobel for Prize for Literature in 1907. The prestigious prize was awarded for his power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas, and remarkable talent for narration. Kipling died on January 18, 1936, in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Yigal on September 06, 2018

the best ever short story. the great master......more

Goodreads review by Murtaza on December 15, 2021

Usually when you want to be diplomatic in criticism towards a set of short stories you would describe them as "uneven." That would be too generous to this collection which I can safely say were unreadable and almost incomprehensible at times, with the exception of the excellent beginning and ending......more

Goodreads review by Dfordoom on March 14, 2012

Rudyard Kipling might be deeply unfashionable these days but I have a weakness for unfashionable writers. He was something that is almost unimaginable these days - an enormously popular writer who also won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He’s also the sort of writer the PC Thought Police would like......more

Goodreads review by Philip on May 22, 2016

Four stars for the title story alone; the rest are so-so Kipling also-rans. But what a title story -- and an even better film! Sean Connery, Michael Caine AND Christopher Plummer!!......more

Goodreads review by Cherie on June 14, 2016

The best thing I can say is that I finished. I listened to the audio book several times and I read almost all of them over and I still couldn't tell anyone what some of them were about. A few were simply unfathomable to me. Several were very exciting, but strange. My goal was to get through the titl......more