In an interview on The Khyber Pass

First, how did you come to write a book about the Khyber Pass?

Because my doctoral research was in a related area. I looked at the relationship between British India and the regions along the frontier during the early 20th century. I was interested in the way British India tried to influence, or even control, areas that were technically outside the British Empire, such as Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet. So naturally, when I thought about writing a book for general consumption, it was an obvious part of the world for me to gravitate towards.

Soldier Sahibs by the historian Charles Allen, is based on the letters and diaries of a small group of British men who were working for the East India Company in the North-West Frontier Province, in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. What do you like about this book?

It takes a very interesting angle on the big stories of war and diplomacy. It is told very much from the point of view of the officers on the ground, rather than the rarefied level of foreign ministries and Whitehall. And the civilians were always quite unusual. As you can imagine, it takes quite a character to leave the comforts of Britain and live a fairly rough existence in the middle of the North-West Frontier Province. And the officers really got stuck in, learning the native languages, dressing in local clothes and adopting their customs. And in some cases marrying women there and having children.