First published in 1980, shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, The Afghan Wars 1839–1919 speedily became a standard work of reference at military academies and staff colleges in the UK and overseas. Since then, with the attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001 and subsequent war in Afghanistan, copies of the book have been increasingly in demand by readers interested in finding out the context to one of the most complex conflicts of modern times.

T.A. Heathcote departs from the Eurocentric approach of most British military historians and sets the causes and events of the Anglo-Afghan wars firmly in their Asian context, providing as much a political as a military history. Using official dispatches and private letters as well as existing histories, this book tells the story of all three Anglo-Afghan conflicts in a single, accessible volume. It remains essential reading for anyone with an interest in the study of warfare in one of the world's most hostile environments.