Showing results for title "The Man Who Would Be King", by author "Rudyard Kipling" in Action & Adventure

In a remote part of 19th-century Afghanistan, two British adventurers pursue their ambition to rule an empire. Using betrayal, threats, and guns, they win the respect of a primitive tribe and become worshipped as gods until one day they draw blood, and the game is up. "The Man Who Would Be King" is an action-packed tale about the pitfalls of colonialism and the temptations and evils of power.

Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King is a gripping tale of ambition, imperialism, and tragic downfall. Set in the rugged mountains of 19th-century Afghanistan, this powerful novella follows two British adventurers, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan, who hatch a daring plan to become kings of a remote tribal land. Disguised as gods and wielding foreign knowledge, the pair at first succeed in gaining the trust and worship of the Kafiristan natives. But their thirst for power blinds them to the fragile nature of illusion and the limits of control.

Kipling, our narrator, tells this strange story: he was running a newspaper in a big Indian city. In the hot stillness of one night when he was putting the paper to bed, two men came into his office. They were red-bearded giant Daniel Dravot and his friend Peachy Carnehan. These two 'gentlemen at large', as they called themselves, lately of the British army, had put together an insane and dangerous plan: they wanted to be Kings of Kafiristan, a mountainous region of Afghanistan.

The Man Who Would Be King is an enormously popular story by the legendary British writer, poet, and journalist Rudyard Kipling. In the tale, the narrator—a British newspaperman in India modeled after Kipling himself—meets two ex-military rogues named Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, who have grand ambitions. They plan to load up on weapons, travel to the remote Afghan kingdom of Kafiristan and—through cunning and military force—become monarchs.