
Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan
Marina Ali
Thomas H. Johnson and Ludwig W. Adamec.
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
"Few countries have appeared in the history books, and also the newspapers and television broadcasts, quite as much as Afghanistan."
—Preface to Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan
In this latest edition, Johnson, a professor of Afghanistan and Central Asian studies, and the late Ludwig Adamec, a scholar of Middle East and North African studies, chronicle the religious, military, political, judicial, historical, economic and cultural highlights of the book’s namesake country. Historical dictionaries, like this one, relay encyclopedia-level information with the ease of browsing a dictionary. The most-interesting section is within the appendix, which includes numerous lists, like one on Pashtun tribes and their clans. While the book has no photos or illustrations, the charts and information tables are clear and easy to reference. For any student or researcher, this makes for a solid reference source for anything Afghanistan related.
—Marina Ali
You may also be interested in...

Anthology Shows Soccer—and Sport—as Our Favorite Muse—Book Review
In Picturing the Beautiful Game, art historian Daniel Haxall shows readers the perspective of the artist’s psyche—one rarely depicted in discussions of sport.
A History of Mali’s National Drink Traces Green Tea—Book Review
By tracing ritual instead of commerce, anthropologist Ute Röschenthaler shows that the story of tea in West Africa involves multidirectional routes and local agency.