The Man Who Would Be King and Other Short Works By Rudyard Kipling BiblioLife; Large Type Edition (2008), 232 pages ISBN: 978-0554262994 Genre: Literature, Classics

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - January 3, 2011

Long before Russia and the US, each in its own time and for its own reasons, decided to conquer and subjugate Afghanistan, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) told the tale of two foolish and uneducated Englishmen who decided for their own reasons to do the same. Educated historians would undoubtedly label such conquests – killing citizens of some tribes until the remaining tribes agree to be subjugated – as "heroic endeavors" by "real men." But more reasonable people would see the two fools and their like as robbers and murderers, even as they see the exploits of Alexander, called the "Great," and Napoleon, called "the emancipator." Readers will enjoy comparing the conquests and the results with current US actions, especially the fools' desire to bring the message of the Masonic Lodges to the ignorant Afghans, similar to the US desire about democracy, and how the fools trained to Afghans to guard their country against their enemies, and their dealings with Afghan chiefs and priests.

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