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Reviews
No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
posky's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Incredibly important perspective, really informative. Makes you understand the reality of Afghans
lajacquerie's review against another edition
4.0
The more I read about U.S. involvement in the Middle East over the past ~40 years (and especially since 9/11), the more I realize how profoundly we squandered chances to do good. This book makes clear the deep impact that our actions in this invasion had as leadership minimized our mistakes and aggrandized our successes, willfully turning a blind eye to the necessary efforts we would have to investigate and build for long-term stability so we could chalk up quick and ultimately empty "wins." Personal friends will understand this (I doubt random readers will), but one of the things that I found most heartbreaking is how starkly misplaced the hope of many Afghans was... in the U.S.
Hindsight's 20/20, and with the benefit of a few years' reflection there is very little reason to be surprised with how things are going. Maybe we can do better than putting warlords on payroll in the future.
Disclaimer: This is a supremely elided review of this book, finished on a day when I'm not particularly hopeful that our government is getting any better at making decisions--which is certainly coloring things here. "No Good Men" did a wonderful job of demonstrating how much more complex Afghanistan is than (most) U.S. actors seemed to understand. It also sketches out why some of the bad decisions that were made, were made. Its stories are primarily told through a Talib commander, U.S.-backed warlord, and housewife, each of whom's life changes considerably (and often more than once) through the course of the decades covered. Survival is a major theme, and something that I rarely have cause to consider so viscerally. This book also made me long for my Peace Studies classes, to have an in-depth conversation on how this situation would have made for a very interesting reconciliation and reintegration test case (though obviously no country should have to be an experiment in what it takes to provide long-lasting social stability).
Hindsight's 20/20, and with the benefit of a few years' reflection there is very little reason to be surprised with how things are going. Maybe we can do better than putting warlords on payroll in the future.
Disclaimer: This is a supremely elided review of this book, finished on a day when I'm not particularly hopeful that our government is getting any better at making decisions--which is certainly coloring things here. "No Good Men" did a wonderful job of demonstrating how much more complex Afghanistan is than (most) U.S. actors seemed to understand. It also sketches out why some of the bad decisions that were made, were made. Its stories are primarily told through a Talib commander, U.S.-backed warlord, and housewife, each of whom's life changes considerably (and often more than once) through the course of the decades covered. Survival is a major theme, and something that I rarely have cause to consider so viscerally. This book also made me long for my Peace Studies classes, to have an in-depth conversation on how this situation would have made for a very interesting reconciliation and reintegration test case (though obviously no country should have to be an experiment in what it takes to provide long-lasting social stability).
ben_r's review against another edition
5.0
If you have any curiosity for what went on in Afghanistan during our years fighting the Talibs. As seen from the Afghani perspective. A must read.
lagos_tout's review against another edition
5.0
In America, we rarely hear about the experience of American occupation from the point of view of Afghanis themselves. This book is a riveting corrective.
larryerick's review against another edition
5.0
There are a few things I expect from an especially good non-fiction work: (1) learning something of value I didn't already know, (2) having information I may already know presented in a way that adds great clarity, cohesiveness, and memorability, and (3) moves me emotionally on what might otherwise be rather sterile facts. While I have already read some good books on Afghanistan and the war that America keeps fighting, this book very successfully meets all my criteria for outstanding work. Personally, I doubt that most Americans have a good understanding of why Afghanistan is so important in world relations, other than it being the location where people of differing religious beliefs to most Americans harbored a group of people who did harm to America. Few probably know of the pivotal role the country has played in regional politics for centuries. Few probably know of the details of the Russian occupation and the state Afghanistan was left in after the Russians left. And while many Americans will know of a connection between Afghanistan and the "war on terror", very few will know to what extent the American operations in the country have only served to amplify the very terrorism they are trying to remove. In fact, I challenge any Westerner to read this book and maintain the same response to the very recent terrorism in Europe. For my fiction-lover friends, I must also point out that I found it easy to relate major portions of this book -- this "real" story -- to the fictional narrative in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. And I can say without hesitation that this book was every bit as dramatic and even more suspenseful. Highly recommended.
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
2.0
A noble attempt to chronicle the Afghanistan war from the Afghan perspective. Journalist Gopal is at his best telling the nation’s tragic story through 3 characters: a Taliban fighter, a US-allied warlord & an ordinary housewife. Less interesting are his 30,000-feet-above-the-Hindi-Kush observations. Refreshing to look through eyes other than American soldiers or Western reporters. There’s powerful, moving stuff here. But the histories & stories blur together. Disclaimer: I have war-writing fatigue. But, ultimately, one desert outpost & war-ravaged goat farm looks like another. Drags early, picks up.