{"product_id":"to-lose-a-war-jon-lee-anderson-9780593493090","title":"To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom one of the greatest foreign correspondents of our time, whose essential and profound on-the-ground reporting from Afghanistan for \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e from before 9\/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021 has definitively shaped our understanding of the country and its fate, comes the complete accounting of that era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a narrative of great impact and lasting value.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, covering the US-backed mujahedin's insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Within days of the 9\/11 attacks, he was back on the ground as an early eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. His reportage from the first year of the war won a number of awards, and was published in book form as \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan\u003c\/i\u003e. At the time, the American military had prevailed on the battlefield, and the newfound peace seemed to offer a precious space for Afghan society to restore itself and to forge a democratic future. But all was not well: Osama bin Laden was still in hiding, the Taliban were stealthily reorganizing for a comeback, and the United States was about to make the epochal blunder of turning its attention to Iraq. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Lose a War\u003c\/i\u003e collects all of Anderson's writing from Afghanistan over a near quarter-century span. Containing the stories from \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave\u003c\/i\u003e and all of those he published since, as well as important writing appearing here for the first time, the book offers a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds in real time. The colossal waste, missed signals, and wishful thinking that characterized the twenty-year arc of the US-led war in Afghanistan have consecrated it as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of modern times, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJon Lee Anderson's chronicling of the Afghan war for \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e earned him comparisons to Michael Herr and Ryzard Kapuscinski. Just as \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave\u003c\/i\u003e offered a highly original, intimate glimpse of the war in its still-hopeful first year, \u003ci\u003eTo Lose a War\u003c\/i\u003e provides today's readers with an unparalleled narrative history of the entire arc of the American misadventure in Afghanistan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jon Lee Anderson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593493095\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593493090\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/12\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.46lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.25h x 6.13w x 1.00d","brand":"Jon Lee Anderson","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46640949395711,"sku":"9780593493090","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_aa162bb7-e94b-4e9c-ac30-3a89686ffb8b.jpg?v=1740670918","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/to-lose-a-war-jon-lee-anderson-9780593493090","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}