Afghanistan

Enchantment of the World

by Ruth Bjorklund

Learn about the country's history, culture, people and much more! Afghanistan has long been a land of great turmoil. It has seen conflicts between internal factions and wars involving foreign nations. However, it is also a land of great beauty, with a rich culture and a long, fascinating history. Readers will get an up-close look at life in Afghanistan, from what people eat and do for fun to where they live and what kinds of jobs they do. They will also learn about Afghanistan's history, government, economy, traditions, and more.

Genres: History, Geography

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Philip]

SAMPLE PHOTO CAPTION: "An Afghan woman works at a TV internet company. A growing number of media companies have opened in Afghanistan in recent years."

So, yeah - this is another heartbreaking look at an "Afghanistan that might have been" if nothing had changed since the book's 2018 publication.

With chapters on nature, history, culture, religion, etc., the bulk of the book is informative* and remains generally relevant…right up to the painful chapter on "Government for the People," which paints a rosy picture of a democratic shared leadership (President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah) that is just generally workin' things out, despite the only briefly-mentioned "bombings, instability and poverty."

Like all such books aimed at a young audience (although again - just who are the expected readers of books like this??), it glosses over the more horrendous details of recent Afghan history, of which there are far too many: Russian puppet president Najibullah here is merely assassinated (rather than the more gruesome "tortured, lynched and hanged"); Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden are simply "killed;" and somehow, that total piece-of-shit Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (identified on Google as "Former Afghan Prime Minister, taliban leader and drug dealer") isn't mentioned at all, despite having SOMEHOW continuing to outlive everyone else in this sordid tale.

Overall, an interesting if jarringly odd addition to the already offbeat "Enchantment of the World" series that I can only imagine is keeping young readers awake at night around the world.

* I DID NOT KNOW that Afghanistan is the home of the tulip; the world's leading source of lapis lazuli (so don't be expecting much more of that anytime soon); or where the famous Bactrian Hoard was discovered.

[Jaide]

Though it’s aimed for kids, this book is immensely readable and well-written. I didn’t know much about Afghanistan, so I appreciated the simplicity. There are one or two eco-friendly plugs, but that’s to be expected :p

[Lara]

I learned a lot about Afghanistan in a short amount of time from this book. Although the Enchantment of the World series is written for kids, I think the information is valuable for adults as well. I like the photographs, maps and illustrations.

[Jan]

written in 2018 so it was before 9-1, beautiful photos.