Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century; Relations With the USSR, Germany, and Britain

Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1974. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. ix, [1], 324, [2] pages. Illustrations. Appendix. References. Index. DJ has wear, tears, chips and soiling. Inscribed by author on half-title page: To Mrs. Julia Petrov with cordial greetings, Ludwig W. Adamec Tucson, July 15, 1974. Ludwig W. Adamec (10 March 1924 - 1 January 2019) was a noted scholar on the Middle East and Afghanistan. He was a professor emeritus in the School of Middle East and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. He wrote and edited numerous books, including the republication of the monumental Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan, which had originally been compiled but was unpublished by the government in British India. As a child he was arrested and placed in the Moringen concentration camp where he stayed until the end of the Second World War. In 1950, he left Austria and after travels across Europe, Asia and Africa. He moved to the US in 1954, where he obtained a doctorate in Middle Eastern studies. In 1967, he came to the University of Arizona as a scholar in Middle Eastern studies. He taught the history of Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa from about 500 A.D. to present days, and also for some time taught Arabic and Persian languages at the University. In 1975, he established a Near Eastern Center at the University and headed the Center for the subsequent 10 years. In 1986-87 he headed the Afghanistan Branch at Voice of America. Using unpublished secret material from the archives of India, Britain, Germany, the USSR, and the United States, author Adamec presents an authoritative analysis of Afghanistan's foreign policy in the first half of the twentieth century. He also summarizes Afghan foreign relations during the late nineteenth century. His definitive study examines such previously neglected areas of Afghan diplomacy as Axis and Allied activities in the country during World War II.