Originally published in 1964 and titled Land of the High Flags: A Travel-memoir of Afghanistan, Roseanne Klass' memoir has recently been re-released under the title Land of the High Flags: Afghanistan When the Going Was Good. I read an older copy, obtained through Interlibrary Loan from the Beloit College Library, and I enjoyed the full sensory experience: the old book feel and smell, from when hardcover books were actually made to last.Whichever edition of this book you find, it is well worth the read. Klass went to Kabul with her husband in the early fifties, became an English teacher at a boys' school (and at that time, all the schools were boys' schools) and fell in love with the country and people. At this time, when much of the picture of Afghanistan that we get here in the West is pretty bleak, I found it really interesting to read about a different Afghanistan. It was not idyllic, not outside of the expatriate community at any rate. Women lived in purdah (lifted in 1959 and reimposed under the rule of the Taliban) and the country struggled to establish its identity, as many did post- colonialism.
However, Klass describes people of enormous grace and a country of exceptional beauty. Afghanistan is indeed a crossroads of the world, one reason why it has been overrun by hostile invaders again and again through the ages. In the fifties, when Afghanistan was friendly to Westerners and not engaged in civil war, Klass was able to travel freely through much of the country. Although, as an American, Klass was part of a privileged group in the country, in her writing she does not dwell on the expatriate community and tries to present something more than a tourist's perspective.
I found her description of the giant ancient Buddhist statues particularly poignant, given that the Taliban reduced them to rubble several years ago.
Reading Land of the High Flags piqued my interest about Afghanistan in much the same way that The Kite Runner did when I read it a few years ago. It is a good reminder that every place in the world, whether it is on the front pages of our newspapers or not, has a life and a history that is totally separate from its relationship with the U.S. -- if we care to learn about it. It is a reminder that the United States - gasp - is not at the center of the universe, or even the civilized world.
Klass is a good writer, too. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
(Cross-posted at the Winter Reading Challenge.)
