Customer Reviews

Lessons from Afghanistan

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David Fleishhacker's "Lessons from Afghanistan" is based on the author's experiences in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960's. This brief account is, however, more than just a memoir of a vistor who was in Afghanistan forty years ago. Fleishhacker deftly connects his experiences with current events. Unlike many of the "instant experts" whose views on Afghanistan appear daily in the media, this book gives one a feel for what the country is really like. This slim book is a good way to get a sense of the country as experienced by someone who was there and who had an opportunity to observe the way average people live their lives.

This is a most entertaining and enjoyable book to read about a part of the world which is virtually unknown to most Americans. It is well written and contains many anecdotes and amusing incidents relating to the author's personal experience in the Peace Corps in Kabul and Mazar-I-Sharif in the 60's. Beyond that, however, it provides comment which should be food for thought for anyone who wishes to follow or who seeks to implement American foreign policy in the future. The comments on basic issues faced in Afghanistan are timeless and universal in nature and provide much food for thought.

David Fleishhacker uses his personal experience in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan as a framework to teach us about that country's history, topography, and culture. His sense of humor and his affection for the people of Afghanistan make this a fun book to read, but Fleishhacker also has a strong message--urging everyone to gain more knowledge and understanding of other cultures and places in the world. A wonderful book!

Three cheers for David Fleishhacker, a wonderful writer! And, three cheers for the Peace Corps! Far more than a collection of reminiscences, this little book contains the sort of philosophy, based on history and experience, that should be the underpinning of our foreign policy everywhere. I devoured it at one sitting and only wished he had written more. Clear, funny, honest and tender, this book should be required reading for our entire State Department, the Military Establishment, the "Lords of Poverty" (international aid/relief organizations)and literally every American involved in overseas activity. For that matter, it should be required reading in every high school and board room in the country. Great stuff.

I learned a lot about Afghanistan from this book. David Fleischacker, the author, admirably brings together the country's past with its present. He writes well and clearly, and his adventures as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1960s are entertaining and absorbing. This book should be on every federal politician's must-read list, and if it had been during the latest Bush administration, we mightn't be in the Mideast mess we're in today.