This book deals with the stories of three generations of women and their love stories. First comes Charlotte and her love for adventure takes her to India and Afghanistan in the middle of the 19th Century and British Rule. Next comes Alexandra, Charlotte's grandchild, and how she finally finds herself and true love. Last comes Cara who is faced with an incredible burden during the second world war.

All three stories are very well written. The people and places are very well depicted and interesting, you cannot help but fall in love with the heroines and feel their struggle. All situations dealing with historical facts (Afghanistan, World War
II), though ficticious, are faithful and seem very life-like.

I enjoyed reading this book very much and was moved by every account. Very good writing and great reading.

"Charlotte". In the 1840's, a bored Charlotte Brent marries military officer Hugh Connell to escape the ennui of Victorian England. They journey to Afghanistan where she falls in love with the philandering but dashing Alexander Bewick before the fall of Kabul.

"Alexandra". Around the turn of the century, Charlotte's granddaughter, a dispirited Alexandra, wants to draw. However to do so in peace, she must escape from her rancorous mother Iskandara. When the opportunity to care for her great-aunt Emily, Charlotte's sister, arises, Alex leaps for it. There she meets two men, one being a bit older and a more mature person. The other, a fellow artist encourages Alex to be all she can be, but to someone who does not like herself, he seems as selfish as her mother and as exciting as her grandfather.

"Cara". World War II intercedes on the life of Charlotte's great-granddaughter, Clara. Her existence seems dismal until she meets two men who claim they want her. Will she choose the older mature man or the selfish, exciting person more her age?

LEGACY OF LOVE is a well-written historical work of fiction that showcases a century of English history. The three novellas share a common theme of spirited females trapped into boredom buy society and events needing to choose between two suitors, a boring but loyal individual vs. an exciting but immature person. Each tale accomplishes what it sets out to do with world events impacting people and their choices. Although the world stage takes a backdrop to the romances, fans of historical novellas will relish the latest works from Joanna Trollope writing as Caroline Harvey.

Harriet Klausner

I think this is a great book for encouraging discussion of diversity in the classroom.

In the school where I teach a lot of the children come from refugee backgrounds and this story was something they could really relate to. But the other kids could relate to it too.

The imagery is powerful and the kids loved it.

"It's always the same. The jets scream overhead." is the powerful first line of this story that resonates even more forcefully in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The Roses in My Carpets is a masterful tale of a young Afghan refugee by Toronto writer Rukhsana Khan. It is based on a true story, that of the author's foster child in Peshawar, Pakistan. With the unfolding of historical events, it is probably destined to be a classic.

Spare, grim and unsentimental, the story is a beautifully woven narrative of a young fatherless refugee boy caring for his mother and sister in a war-torn world. Symbolic of the loss of identity suffered by refugees, the boy remains nameless throughout the story. Movingly, he struggles to survive with his family within the sombre parameters that govern his universe. Escape finally arrives when he goes to his job as an apprentice carpet weaver. There he makes sure "there are plenty of roses in my carpets". As the story ends, hope surfaces in the young boy's dream of finding "a space, the size of a carpet, where the bombs cannot touch us."

Ronald Himler's watercolour and pencil drawings look overwhelmingly familiar with the images that now flood our homes through television. I have read Roses to my four year old many times and she appreciated the opportunity to comprehend the devastating effect of war on families. I would highly recommend it to other parents and teachers.

After reading this book, I feel like I have a much better grasp of everything that I read about Afghanistan in the press today than I had before reading the book. Michener takes the reader on a journey through the wilds of the nation of Afghanistan, while also providing him with some remarkable insights into the making of the modern nation of Afghanistan. Though this is not a new book, it does not feel dated. In fact, this reader wondered how much has changed in the lives of many Afghanis since the time that Michener wrote it.

This review should probably include the confession that I did find bits of the story to be a bit implausible. However, that which I gained in understanding about Afghanistan far outweighed that which I struggled with regarding the plot. In addition, I found myself hungry for a bit more historical 'meat' at the end of the novel, though I recognize that Michener does not intend to write textbooks.

Caravans is classic Michener--a fun read with several jewels of understanding along the way.

The fictional first person account of a young American diplomat in 1940s Afghanistan, Caravans by James Michener weaves a compelling tapestry of adventure, history, and romance. Simultaneously the backdrop and main character, Afghanistan materializes before the reader's eyes with the turning of each page. The story revolves around Mark Miller, assigned to the U.S. embassy in Kabul, and his mission to discover what has happened to a young American woman in Afghanistan whose family has not heard from her in months.

The Afghan mosaic of culture and geography emerges through Michener's writing in one of his most enthusiastic works. Setting forth at an ambling pace, Caravans allows the richness of Afghanistan to permeate the story as the plot asserts itself. The middle portion of the book broadens both the story and the reader's understanding of this foreign land, while the plot accelerates toward the conclusion.

What Caravans leaves to be desired lies in the absence of an adequate treatment of the thousands of years of Afghan history preceding the 20th century. In addition, the conclusion's rapid onset jars the reader out of the book's lullaby rhythm. To be fair, however, doing justice to the entirety of Afghanistan's history would require multiple volumes, and the conclusion, while rapid, presents itself at the appropriate time.

For a reader seeking to understand more about Afghanistan in light of the events of September 11, 2001, Caravans is an especially palatable introduction the country. With no mention of the Taliban nor modern day terrorism, the book nonetheless convinces the reader of the severity of life in Afghanistan.

"Caravans" is the story of how Afghanistan's Islamic culture affects an American female student and a U.S. embassy male staffer.

Afghanistan's Islamic culture has desert roots. Desert survival requires a strong leader. This requirement has made Islam a patriarchal culture. Michener describes how Islamic culture fits the harsh desert environment. He outlines how an American woman and an American man adapt to Afghanistan's Islamic culture.

"Caravans" is an excellent novel. Michener's characters are well-developed. Michener lived in Afghanistan. He understands its people, its culture, and its environment. I recommend this book.

Prior to September 11, most Americans knew (or cared) little about Afghani politics, but today it seems imperative for us to learn all we can about the history, culture, and politics of this exotic but troubled nation. In *Unholy Wars*, reporter John Cooley has provided a wealth of information about Afghanistan and its geopolitical importance over the past quarter-century, including the 1979 Soviet invasion, the U.S.-supported campaign by the *mujahedin* to expel the Soviets, and the subsequent transformation of the most militant *mujahedin* into the Al-Qaida terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden.

Cooley succeeds in providing an admirably detailed account of the origin of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, including excerpts from the now-infamous 1998 interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski published in a French publication in which he boasted about having entrapped the Soviets into invading so that they would experience their own Viet Nam-type military disaster. The involvement of the CIA, along with Pakistan's ISI, in supporting and supplying the *mujahedin* is laid out clearly, and Cooley even devotes a chapter to the significance of the opium trade as a source of funding for Islamist armies both during and after the campaign against the Soviets.

Other chapters discuss how the multi-national Islamist "freedom fighters" dispersed after 1989 to spread their gospel of militant Islam and their terrorist tactics to Egypt, Algeria, Chechenya, the Philippines, and ultimately, the United States. The book was completed prior to the events of September 11, 2001, but the material dealing with previous Al-Qaida attacks in the U.S., including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, is vital reading for people interested in historical background to the current crisis.

The main problem with this book is that whereas Cooley presents a veritable blizzard of "facts," there is very little accompanying analysis. The presentation reads like a first draft, a mass of semi-digested material in dire need of editing and refining. Particularly in the chapters pertaining to recent terrorist activities in nations outside of Afghanistan, the endless parade of names, dates, places, factions and parties will make even the most resolute reader's head spin.

Overall, the book seems to have been thrown together way too quickly, as evidenced by an appalling lack of careful proofreading or fact-checking. Examples of gaffes that should never have made it to the final galleys include the claim that California's Chico State University is located in Nevada, the declaration that the time period between 1956 and 1970 constituted 24 years, and a reference to the "two 110-foot towers" of the World Trade Center. Whoops! Aside from the obvious sloppiness evidenced here, the inclusion of these kinds of careless errors cannot help but cast doubt on the overall accuracy of Cooley's reporting in this book.

Given that so far there is but a handful of books in English that provide historical background pertaining to Al Qaida and international terrorism generally, I would say that Unholy Wars is definitely worth reading. We can only hope, however, that a more analytical and carefully written work on these subjects will emerge soon.

This author can say more in 5 words then I could say in 50. To say this book is dense and jammed packed with detail may be an understatement. This book is the authors attempt to detail the creation and support of the Afghanistan freedom fighters in the 1980's and how these fighters then went out in the 90's to form the base of the Al - Qaeda terrorist group. The author takes us through the different countries and ways that the Afghani fighters were funded and supported. It then covers the terrorist acts these same fighters have been committing over the last ten years.

We get a very good look at the other nations involved in this issue and how the internal politics of one nation may effect the world. For example the help that China provided the Afghani fighters to keep the Russians busy then turned into an issue for China when those same fighters started working with separatist organizations in Western China. The books main point is that if you use mercenaries to fight a war for you it tends to have far reaching repercussions.

What I did not like about the book was the bone-dry writing. He managed to take an interesting topic and turn it into a story with all the excitement of an economics lecture. This is good stuff, punch it up a bit and get me excited to move to the next page. I also wanted a bit more background or links to other events - we get a blizzard of facts, dates, places etc, but it is not tied together very well. And if you are a nut on typos (you probably would get mad at my typing) then watch out because it does not look like too much editing was done on the text.

If you want more detail on the Afghanistan freedom fighters / CIA funding process during the 1980's I would suggest the book "The Forth World War", a great book written by the head of the French version of the CIA which is quoted a number of times in this book. For a more in-depth look at what happened to the aid the book "The Bear Trap" is also very interesting. If you just want a nice, easy to read overview of UBL then I would suggest "Holy War Inc".

In this impressively detailed and exhaustively documented book, John K. Cooley gets to the roots of the international terrorist organizations that are striking fear and violence into the world’s populations. Beginning with surprising revelations about U.S. and Soviet actions in Afghanistan during the Cold War, Cooley traces the origins of today’s terror back to the West’s strategy of creating an army of fanatical Muslim warriors to mire the USSR in its own Vietnam. While that plan was successful, it gave birth to the terrorist violence we face today, and Cooley deftly explains how. (...) strongly recommend this book to all readers for the historic context lacking in mainstream media coverage of the war on terrorism.

First: I am a big fan of Military History. I love first-hand accounts, books that relive strategies/tactics/lives.

This book was good, but it was missing something... First hand descriptions of what actually was going on.

Borovik references a great deal of events, but never delves into them. This comes about primarily because the book is a collection of articles about the Soviet-Afghan experience. Mainly though, it was a depressing half-hearted diatribe against Soviet authorities who drove the war effort.

Being a student of Soviet Studies, it was clear to me that the style was quintessentially Russian. Meaning, it talked about hardships, was vivid in visual details, and rich in melancholia. However, it lacked details on what really happened there, how troops conducted themselves, what the Afghans were like, and how the war was waged.

Frankly, the book left me a bit cold. However, if you are looking for a book that gives the somber nature of the Soviet feelings towards the Afghan war, this is a decent book to read.

Borovik died before getting the chance to re-edit the book, so what you'll get is a striking juxtaposition of stances toward the Russian-Afghan war. The first section of the book was written in 1987, when Borovik was working for the Soviet magazine Ogonyok. It's the sort of patriotic, sentimental journalism you'd get a 19th-c. British or 20th-c. American reporter: lots of conversations with goodhearted, homesick grunts, but very little thought about what they're doing or whether it's working.

The second part of the book describes the very messy withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Afghanistan. It was written only two years later, but it's a completely different style of journalism. With the Soviet verities crumbling, Borovik can describe the chaos and folly of an Imperial war gone wrong. His account of the Soviet convoys trying to get through the Salang Pass without being ambushed is a weirdly lyrical, beautiful description of military failure as high drama.

This isn't an account of the war, nor a carefully-crafted essay on war journalism. It's a collection of articles by a very good journalist describing the collapse of his country, as refracted in the latter stages of the disastrous Soviet Afghan adventure.

As an avid enthusiast of all things Russian, Soviet, etc. and especially the failed occupation of Afghanistan, I found this book at a book store going out of business. What an incredible find! It was an original first print (Different cover picture) and was written from a Russian point of view, through Russian eyes, but not necessarily a military view. Artyom Borovik was a journalist covering the war. A combat correspondant...sorta. All I can say is READ it since this tells the story of an event that ultimately leads to the fall of the Soviet Union and also leads us to September 11, 2001 and the World Trade Center tragedy. This is where the recent batch of fundamentalism in the Islamic world got it's fire...fighting against an imperialist super-power. The same fire we face today. Just as we fought the Soviets through the Vietnamese, they fought us through the Mujahadin in Afghanistan. Another good book told through Soviet eyes, although fiction and way out of print, is "Red Army" by Ralph Peters. It's a book about a war that never happened. :) If you can find it, it'll be worth it!

While I may not run in the same circles as Charlie Wilson, I'm quite capable of recognizing a sleazy man when I hear or meet one. At no point did I find Charlie Wilson to be "eccentric" or "funny". He strikes me as an entirely different kind of man, one who glories in his own power and hedonism. In truth, he's nothing more than a penny-ante dilettante.

I do not recommend this book for that reason. While the writing is very good, it's hard to justify spending so much time reading about such a despicable man. I can't imagine what the author was thinking. His remarkable talent could be used to contribute something far more inspiring and interesting to the literary pool. He also failed to address some difficult questions. Why was Wilson permitted to be involved in the planning or implementation of CIA operations? Crile doesn't challenge that. There are no lessons here, nothing of any redeeming value. It's little more than glorification of bad character. If Crile has an interest in covert action and CIA officers, how about a biography of Mike Spann, someone truly worth reading about?

"Charlie Wilson's War" is the unbelievable yet true story of the covert CIA operation to support the Afghan rebels who so courageously resisted Soviet occupation in the 1980's. It is also the story of two extraordinary men, Congressman Charles Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrokotos, whose guile, determination, and utter disregard for the rules made this quixotic undertaking a reality.
This book is about impossible personalities prevailing against impossible odds to defeat an impossible foe. It is also impossible to put down. The prose is quick and engaging. George Crile and his crack team drop you immediately into the action, creating a close bond with the book's main protagonists. However, Wilson and Avrokotos are not allowed to completely overshadow the action. Crile brings his expert eye to this historic tale, forged after almost two decades of service as an executive producer at "Sixty Minutes". The result is an easy to follow, orderly read- despite the utter chaos of the region's history, politics, and religious, ethnic, and territorial turmoil.
What makes this book all the more fascinating is the direct connections Crile ties to our present day difficulties with Afghanistan and the larger Islamic world, not to mention the final days of the Soviet empire. For the first time since 9/11, one source ties together the complicated web of covert operations, David and Goliath type odds, and the final missed opportunities into a coherent story. A story that is an object lesson into our current relationships in the Middle East. "Charlie Wilson's War" is proof once again that truth is far stranger than fiction, for throughout this story you will be struck time and time again by the sheer magnitude of the undertaking, the force of the personalities, and the effect they have on the entire world.
This book caries my highest recommendation. Whether you like fiction or non fiction, history, spy novels, or fantasy, this saga has something for every reader. Go buy this book, and buy it for a friend!!!!

I could not put this book down -- just a great read. In the dangerous times that we now live in, it is amazing to read a book that finally explains the rise of militant Islam but is more entertaining than any spy novel.

Belly dancers, beauty queens, rogue CIA agents and rugged mujahideen warriors this book is truth that fact is far stranger than fiction

Charlie Wilson is a great American and one who has, somehow, been all but forgotten by history. This book explains how one American patriot can secretly change the world.

In the post 9/11 era, this book is of enormous importance to every American. I recommend it highly.

Reading this book made me wish I had read it before I read Ahmed Rashid's book, Taliban. It puts many issues in focus, giving the reader a basic starting point for further research, but that is all it really does. His bibliography was limited to 13 book resources and the text is scattered with clips from Taliban radio but it doesn't really "break out the box" per se, giving no real indepth viewpoints any more than a school textbook. And it is much related to a school textbook because those book sources seem mostly to be secondary sources. He mentions Osama Bin Laden in only one paragraph and never at all speaks of Al Qaeda forces.
But in the conclusion he mentions the purpose of his book being to rid people of stereotypes about Islamic movements and to show the conflict in communication between Islam and the West. In the case of the former, he pretty much succeeds. In the later, I'd read Rashid for a better anwer than Marsden.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 shattered the sociopolitical fabric of Afghanistan by seeking to impose an unworkable system on a traditional society. It also provided an opportunity for the US to use Islam as a political force against its Cold War nemesis... Marsden provides a highly readable and succinct account of the rise of the Taliban, their creed, political agenda, and the regional politics of this movement. The book also delineates the strange role of the US as a benefactor of one of the most antidemocratic movements in the world today. Recommended for students and scholars of contemporary Afghanistan and central Asia. Undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.

The book reads factual, and a tad dry. The truth is when you want to know about something as such you have to live it. I have been to this part of the world, there is so much more Peter could have researched out by actually being a part of this life. I strongly recommend reading SB 1 or God By Karl Mark Maddox.

Recommended SB 1 or God

One of Follett's best, Lie Down with Lions is a fast-paced, intriguing read. While I feel he will never touch Eye of the Needle, Pillars of the Earth or The Man from St. Petersburg (hence, the four-star rating), Lie Down with Lions showcases Follett's best skills virtually on every page. If you have never read Follett, start with one of the aforementioned books. They are his best (especially "...Needle" and "Pillars...") and will make you appreciate some of the finer nuances in Lie Down with Lions. My only gripe (I WON'T ruin the plot) is that the last 80 pages were a little too detail-oriented giving the effect of being just a TAD too slow-paced. Only a tad though. Certainly not enough to keep anyone from reading this fine novel. But it is somewhat like exiting the freeway at 70mph and suddenly having to do 55mph. 55mph is still quite fast for the surface streets, but 70mph was better (for the freeway, of course)! Take this book on vacation. Read it over a lazy three-day weekend. Use it as a wonderful escape during your lunch hour. Just don't do what I did: clocked in late from lunch everyday! Enjoy!

Follett's common theme of creating vivid characters and aiming them on a collision course takes you to Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. Lie Down with Lions moves fast and has one of the most intense sexual scenes I have ever read. Like a metaphor for the book as a whole, the same characters are soon on an icy trek over the Himalyas.

Like his lovers, the book is hot and cold. The plot is thin and implausible. The bad guys are two dimensional. But Follett's descriptive powers are in good form. This is a great book for a boring trans-continental flight.

Ken Follett's writing talent really overdoes itself in Lie Down With Lions. He somehow adds the violence of a war, the heat between two nemesis' and a woman, romance, and even a little bit to laugh at, into one book. Lie Down With Lions is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. Based mainly on Ellis Thaler, the American, Jean-Pierre, the frenchman, and Jane Lambert, the beautiful English woman whom they have both fallen for, Lie Down With Lions takes you from the terrorism and lies of Paris, to the violent war in Afghanistan. Ellis lies to Jane about what he does for a living, and she ends up marrying Jean-Pierre and leaving with him to Afghanistan. But after some intriguing words from his ex-wife, Ellis is determined to get her back. Lie Down With Lions is romantic adventure and twisting suspense at their best, and I highly recommend it to anyone. This book guarantees to keep you on the edge of your seat, and if not, its because it made you fall off.

This is not a slight on Mr Grau who I believe was only the translator of this Soviet era text; however, do not expect to learn much from this book.

The translation is excellent, this book reads as if it was written in English. Unfortunately this is the only good thing I can say about this work.

The idea that the original collection of these vignettes was done at the Frunze academy, the equivalent of one of the US Military's war colleges, goes far in helping to explain the pathetic performance of the Soviet military in Afganistan, Chechnya, and their other post WWII encounters. The vignettes are poorly written, only include one point of view, and lack almost every aspect of detail that would normally be required in this sort of work. Yet, based on a vague outline consisting of at most 150 words that describe a three day offensive action the original authors at the Frunze academy would make sweeping "lessons learned" comments on the importance of intelligence, or the coorindation of fire and maneuver. Of course, beyond making these couple of statements, nothing of practical value in the area of tactics, techniques or procedures are provided to the reader.

The quality of these after action reviews are poor and they offer very little to learn from. For a comparison I would urge any reader to contact the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. The history department at the CGSC has produced numerous texts of the same type, but the quality is incomparably better.

...

Being in afghanistan I ordered a few books to learn where I was and this one was a great tacitcal book, I could overlfy some places this book talked about and point out areas well but as for the average reader, its black adn white, no cool photos and no real exciting stories. Its more of a pure military history of battle book.

I believe this book originally started off as a Military paper, which got published and sold. Mr. Grau has done a 3 part series on the Afghan-Soviet war. This is part 1 in the series.

Like the other comments, very easy to read, and to the point. Goes over specific battles, what happened, and how it all broke down. The conclusions and commentary at the end of each battle are excellent. This book works great with the others in the series, esspecially "The Other side of the Mountain: Mujahidden Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War" - which does the same thing, but talks about the battles from a Mujahideen standpoint. The second book is almost impossible to find...... doesn't carry it. Lastly, there's a third book coming out called "Russian General Staff: The Soviet-Afghan War" which looks at the war from the general level - I guess overall strategy.

Overall, excellent book on tactics. And easy enough to read that you don't need to be an officer in the military to understand.

"Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan" has strong and weak points. Despite the weak points, this novel by Milt Bearden is very much worth the time spent to read it. Especially for those without much background in US covert operations, the book can open many doors.

The operational detail that serves as the background of this book is probably without parallel in any espionage or war novel. Mr Bearden communicates in a convincing and succinct way the procedures and tradecraft of US activities during the Soviet attack on Afghanistan. Bearden integrates themes such as the technological superiority of the CIA over the USSR in a very interesting fashion.

The book has two weak areas. First, the story itself has almost no psychological foundation or development. The characters, whether Soviets, Afghans, or Americans, are one dimensional, which is regrettable because with a little more care and a better editor this could have been quite an interesting novel. Secondly, Mr Bearden's understanding of the subtleties of Cold War geopolitics, at least as expressed in this novel, is risible at best.

The novel's style is uneven. Often, Bearden writes quite well, but by moments the text reads as though the editor went to sleep.

The value of this novel is undermined by its long gestation period. Published in 1998, the novel's political themes have become, with the passage of time, clichés rather than the fruit of lived experience and accurate insight.

Unfortunately, much of what passes today as thrillers consist of manical, blood-thirsty super villains; super hero level good guys (PC = persons?); a preponderance of far-out technical devices; and weak, unrealistic plots. Fortunately, "The Black Tulip" by Milt Bearden is a well-written and well-crafted espionage thriller set during the 1980s in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union at one of the those times when the Cold War was simmering a bit. The main characters are not deep, but they are interesting. Unlike the super hero/villain to which readers are constantly subjected in other works, the characters in this book are portrayed as competent professionals with foibles. The depiction of tradecraft and the inner workings of the intelligence community are fairly realistic. The plot keeps the reader's interest, moves along at a good pace, and plugs in well with the events of the period. While coincidence plays a role, unlike most thrillers these days, the plot is plausible and does not depend on wildly ridiculous coincidences and turns of events. The story is not overwhelmed by gadgets, and, instead, depends on human characters to make it all happen. In sum, "The Black Tulip" is a refreshingly intelligent and realistic thriller. I hope that Mr. Bearden's next book will appear in the near future.

I would remind a previous reviewer, who bemoaned the lack of character development in this novel, that each book has its place and its readers. If you want great literature, go to a different section of the bookstore. Don't ask this adventure/history book to do it all, because no book (or only a rare great one) can do that. Be realistic. This book is outstanding for what it does -- describe in wonderful detail the secret CIA war in Afghanistan. There's outstanding action and lots of interesting characters.

Also unlike a previous reviewer who bemoans how long it took for this novel to reach the shelves, and suggets that it is out of date, I would like to gently suggest that knowing history -- even if it is history of the 1980s--eons ago!--is extremely helpful to my understanding of a critical period in world history, leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. That story will never be out of date!

Overall, this is a great read and very informative.