Kara Kush

by Idries Shah

Paperback, 1987

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Collection

Publication

Fontana (1987), Edition: New Ed, 576 pages

Description

In December of 1979, Soviet tanks rolled across the borders of Afghanistan, beginning a period of barbaric aggression that triggered a turning point in modern history. Idries Shah's brilliant novel chronicles the courageous 10-year resistance of the Afghan people, an epic story of triumph over tyranny that deserves to be immortalized. Kara Kush is the definitive story of freedom fighters. It is a story of patriotism-in-action, mobilized and fueled not by a mass-media propaganda machine, or the charisma of a single individual, but by a thousands-of-years-old tradition of proud independence, deep love of one's land, and fierce will to survive. Kara Kush was first published in 1986, at a time when most of the outside world dismissed the Afghan resistance as a rag-tag lot of rival guerrilla factions in a futile holdout against an invincible military machine. With extraordinary insight into human nature and the course of human history, Kara Kush told the real story. According to author Idries Shah, almost all the people in the text of the novel actually exist-or did. The accounts of battles and raids, precise military details, and the stories of Soviet and Red Afghan atrocities were all from "primary sources"-eye-witnesses, participants, defectors, victims, and prisoners. This remarkable book, among all other sources, offers keys to understanding not only this important strategic region, but the very phase of world history in which we find ourselves today. Much more than a novel, even more than a tribute, Kara Kush stands as a model of human vision, leadership, cooperation, and capacity-at a time when we need it most.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mudslideslim
This account of the Afghan freedom fighters and the people of Afghanistan is the most indepth look into a situation that most people couldn't even imagine. The Russians, in their misguided way thought they could just come in, kill some people, and start their drive to the Arabian oilfields.. They
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did not take into account the code of the people. A code that goes so far back in time that most of the records are verbal. They are united even in their seperateness. I can't give the whole story because it hasn't ended and may never end until people and their governments simply leave these people alone. Shah is spellbinding author and I spent many a night reading when I should have been sleeping. His family has been in Afghanistan for a thousand years so he speaks with an authority that leaves no doubt as to his knowledge of the subject.
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LibraryThing member www.snigel.nu
A tale about determined Afghan resistance against occupying Soviet forces, suited me perfectly well when I read it roughly ten years ago.

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

576 p.; 4.72 inches

ISBN

0006174027 / 9780006174028

Local notes

NWC
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