Afghanistan

Afghanistan sits in a dangerous neighborhood and its people are justly 
proud of their historical ability to maintain their autonomy. [...] Living in a 
land whose crossroads status has been as much a curse as a blessing, Afghans have cultivated a pufferfish strategy to repel outsiders.

The Middle East has always been a gap in my education and I felt like finally fixing that a little bit by reading this very comprising book on the history of Afghanistan. Thomas Barfield covers a very long stretch of time and fills the book with very information-dense text chronicling the major happenings in the country throughout centuries.

It definitely helped me get a better perspective on the country, and presented more than enough interesting people and events for me to want to learn more about. Although it felt to me like the balance was a bit too much on the political history and didn't cover too much of the cultural aspect.
There is so much ground to be covered that I did wish at points that it would look a bit closer at certain events, but that would also make this already fairly thick book even heavier. As a first comprehensive overview of Afghanistan's long and complicated history, it's already very expansive with much to take away from.

Barfield seems genuinely personally invested in the history of the country but manages to tell the story from a rather objective perspective.