Just finished a rousing account of the rise and fall of Afghan war leader Ahmad Shah Massoud by Michael Barry (Massoud: de l’islamisme à la liberté , 2002). He is a lecturer in Islamic Culture at Princeton, and has also written a history of Afghanistan in French.
It's a brilliant account of the terribile occupation of Afghanistan by the Russian army, and the Afghan resistance, which provides fascinating details of the period. It pays tribute to a courageous warrior and the Afghani people, while feeding the French public's interest in for this part of the world, informed by journalists and activists. It also explains why the Taliban destroyed the huge sculptures of the Buddha at Bamian.
True bilingualism is rare, but Michael Barry's book on Massoud is written and published in French, in response to the French people's enduring support for victims of oppression, and capacity for discerning the truth through a barrage of misinformation.
The events of 2011 have put Professor Barry in the limelight, but it's interesting that there is still no English language edition of Massoud: de l’islamisme à la liberté .
It's a brilliant account of the terribile occupation of Afghanistan by the Russian army, and the Afghan resistance, which provides fascinating details of the period. It pays tribute to a courageous warrior and the Afghani people, while feeding the French public's interest in for this part of the world, informed by journalists and activists. It also explains why the Taliban destroyed the huge sculptures of the Buddha at Bamian.
True bilingualism is rare, but Michael Barry's book on Massoud is written and published in French, in response to the French people's enduring support for victims of oppression, and capacity for discerning the truth through a barrage of misinformation.
The events of 2011 have put Professor Barry in the limelight, but it's interesting that there is still no English language edition of Massoud: de l’islamisme à la liberté .