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| Night Letters: Inside Wartime Afghanistan | 
 enlarge | Author: Rob Schultheis
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $0.34
You Save: $16.61 (98%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1524512
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 1585745642
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1045
EAN: 9781585745647
ASIN: 1585745642
Publication Date: November 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A harrowing account from the front lines of the Afghan civil war. Rob Schultheis fell in love with Afghanistan in the 1970s when it was a wild, unspoiled country that had barely changed in the past 500 years. When this ancient land suddenly plunged into civil war between a Soviet-backed Communist government and implacable Muslim rebels, Schultheis found himself drawn to telling its heartbreaking story. Throughout the 1980s, he reported on the war from the front lines, risking his life time after time as he penetrated into the mountains of Afghanistan with the mujahedin insurgents. This book is a first-person chronicle that conveys the nature of a war where men armed with bolt-action rifles squared off against tanks and helicopter gun ships - weapons that could, and routinely did, reduce an ancient village to rubble in minutes. Yet the outgunned and outnumbered mujahedin never considered giving up the fight. Ultimately, they exhausted the Soviet occupiers. Not without reason was Afghanistan called "the Soviet's Vietnam". A cautionary tale for superpowers, a stark reminder of the barbarity of war and, most of all, a tale of the resilient human spirit, "Night Letters" now includes a new introduction by the author written in the wake of the terrorist attacks on America, offering a glimpse into what the future of Afghanistan holds for the rest of the world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Uninformative and poorly written February 12, 2008
I've read a dozen or more books on Afghanistan and found this one the most uninformative. It's mostly about the author, not the country or the war against Soviet occupation; a good choice for a "soldiers of fortune" armchair adventure reader who likes accounts of blood, shooting, and "I was there like a hero" stories.
Typical prose: "No one was going to come out of this unscathed, unmarked; we were all going to get it in the end, dead, wounded or damaged in the soul, our love and laughter invisibly poisoned forever." Or this: "It was another nightmare day like the last, but even worse, a rerun of the same fear, fatigue, anguish, only now we were traveling straight toward the advancing enemy. My feet squelched in their own blood, blazing with pain."
For a far better account of the same period -- the Mujahadin fight against the Soviets in the 1980's -- go to Jason Elliot's "An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan", which gives great insights about the people of Afghanistan, the religion, and the war.
 An inside view of the war January 18, 2008
In this story of Schultheis' experiences in Afghanistan during the war against the Russians (Shurovee), the reader sees events on a personal level, yet with a national scale. He tells of people and events that were in the news, yet here they are real, normal people. Yet normal by entirely different definitions than Americans or any other people.
The horrors of war are documented but not dwelt on. Schultheis describes the need for some journalists and other observers to "be there, Inside," something most of us cannot even begin to understand. In spite of the pain, fear, and privations -- or perhaps because of them -- these individuals cannot stay away and will work as hard to get there as they do in reporting what they experience.
One of the greatest gifts of this book is the way it subtly drives home how different the Afghan people are from us in the States. From his descriptions and interactions, surely any reader will realize that we have no way of understanding them and their part of the world. Their societies are varied, their mixture of tribes and beliefs is volatile. And their courage and strength are enough to keep them fighting.
This book does not try to document everything about Afghanistan in this time period. Schultheis gives a glimpse of the humanity of the villagers, tribesmen, soldiers, and even a little glimpse of the places that make up Afghanistan. There are several other books on the Taliban that came to power afterward, the plight of women, and the wars that followed. It's an interesting and dangerous place in Night Letters, well worth visiting.
 A journalist's view of Afghanistan during the Soviet period. January 22, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
On the back cover of this book, one reviewer compares this book to Dispatches. I have to agree. This book is a great read about the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan. The author is a stringer journalist who fell in love with Afghanistan in the early seventies and then went back to cover it during the Soviet War. This book is his personal memories of the war. Not only does this book giving a loving portrait of the country and the people, but is shows the brutal results when a totalitarian, clumsy superpower tries to exert its power over the people.
This is a relatively short book at 150 pages. A reader will find interesting portraits of both the terrain, different tribes, and some of the characters who waged the guerrilla war.
As with all wars, there is death and destruction. The one story I will retain about this book is the sense of honor among the Afghans. The personal story where Rob was left in the mountains to fend for himself because of a mistrusted guide. When Rob finds the town he wanted to go to, the Afghan muj find out about the errant guide and go off to kill him. To the muj, the guide did an evil act by leaving a visitor in the hills and needed to be dispatched.
Overall a great read about the war in Afghanistan in the eighties. Highly recommended.
A Great Read May 4, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rob Schultheis does a great job making you feel the cold, the sore feet, exhaustion and fear while being hunted by armed tribesmen and Soviet airforces inside Afghanistan. A great book to read on your next plane trip across country. I couldn't put it down and neither have the troopers I work with. It has been passed around so much I doubt I will ever see my copy again.
Lightyears From Realpolitik March 30, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Evocative, beautiful, terrible and short. The madness and evil of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, in which the clumsy terror and brutality of the modern totalitarian state meets an ancient yeomen/warrior tradition of independence and honor. Modern, brutal, indiscriminate, and total thuggery versus the mercurial but brave cavalryman/tribal warrior. The miracle is that anything at all (garden, tree, house, family) survives in Afghanistan.The writer evokes spiritual and social traditions that survive in Afghanistan to this day. Especially, male friendships that seem strangely important to our modern ears but contribute to a heroism that is irrational but ultimately successful in driving out the Russians (at a huge cost). Likewise, the strict code of honor---when our author was abandoned in mountains at night by a treacherous guide, a local leader promptly sought out the offender to kill him.
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