The People of the Khyber, the Pathans of Pakistan [Author Inscribed]

New York, NY: Praeger, Inc., 1963. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). Octavo with blue cloth boards in blue and brown pictorial jacket; 190 pages; illustrations; index; 23 cm. A very good to very good(+) copy, some gentle scuffing to edges; binding tight and pages clean; jacket is good (+) with some ~1in chips to extremities, now in archival mylar. Hardcover.

Inscribed by author, James William Spain (July 22, 1926 – January 2, 2008), an American diplomat in the US Foreign Service with postings in Karachi, Islamabad, Istanbul, Ankara, Dar Es Salaam, and Colombo and four ambassadorships: in Tanzania, Turkey, the United Nations (as deputy permanent representative), and Sri Lanka. "The largest tribal society remaining in hte world lives along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in the area surrounding the Khyber Pass. The guiding force for its twelve million members is Pukhtunwali, or the Pathan code. Drawing on a decade of experience and scholarly resarch, James Spain has produced a book on the Pathans that is entertaining, readable, and valuable as a reference work. The principal tribes and their characteristics, their austere and beautiful land, their turbulent history and daily lives are presented concisely and systematically; as are the fiery sweetness of Pathan poetry, the murky violence of tribal feuds over zan, zan and zamin (gold, women and land), and the perennial intrigue among tribes and Great Powers." --Back cover.