The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan

Synopsis

INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe story of a hotel. The story of a nation.When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan&’s first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world.More than fifty years on, the Inter-Continental is still standing. It has endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. History lives within its scarred windows and walls. Lyse Doucet, the BBC&’s Chief International Correspondent, has been checking into the Inter-Continental since 1988. And here, she uses its story to craft a richly immersive history of modern Afghanistan. It is the story of Hazrat, the septuagenarian housekeeper who still holds fast to his Inter-Continental training from the hotel&’s 1970s glory days—an era of haute cuisine and high fashion, when Afghanistan was a kingdom and Kabul was the &‘Paris of Asia&’. It is the story of Abida, who became the first female chef to cook in the Inter-Con&’s famous kitchen after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. And it is the story of Malalai and Sadeq, the twenty-something staff who seized every opportunity offered by two decades of fragile democracy—only to witness the Taliban roaring back in 2021. The result is a remarkably vivid history of how Afghans have survived a half century of destruction and disruption. It is the story of a hotel but also the story of a people.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

320 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780735243422

Related ISBNs:

9780735243415, 9780735243446, 9780735243453

Publisher:

Penguin Canada

Date of Addition:

11/04/25

Copyrighted By:

Pelagie Limited

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Communication, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.