{"product_id":"the-man-who-would-be-rudyard-kipling-9798900750026","title":"The Man Who Would Be King (Heathen Short)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Rudyard Kipling\u003c\/strong\u003e (1865-1936) was an English journalist, poet, and author. In 1888, he published \"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Man Who Would Be King\u003c\/strong\u003e,\" a sharp parable of imperial ambition and spiritual delusion. The story follows two British adventurers in colonial India who crown themselves kings of Kafiristan, a remote region of Afghanistan. Kipling - himself a child of Empire - renders their ascent from beggars to sovereigns with journalistic precision and mythic undertones as they wield Freemasonic symbols and military cunning to captivate a native people. Their reign collapses, however, when one breaks an oath and takes a native bride, shattering their illusion of divinity. What begins as a swaggering colonial fantasy curdles into tragedy, exposing the moral rot beneath self-made godhood, the fatal cost of hubris, and the bitter echo of blasphemy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rudyard Kipling\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798900750026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Heathen Shorts\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/24\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 60\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.18lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.14d","brand":"Rudyard Kipling","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48588401901823,"sku":"9798900750026","price":7.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-man-who-would-be-rudyard-kipling-9798900750026","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}