Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42

by William Dalrymple

“There is nothing more to be dreaded or guarded against, I think, than the overweening confidence with which we are too often accustomed to regard the excellence of our own institutions, and the anxiety that we display to introduce them in new and untried soils.

Such interference will always lead to acrimonious disputes, if not to a violent reaction.”