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Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier | 
 enlarge | Author: Joel Hafvenstein
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 149519
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 1599211319
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1047
EAN: 9781599211312
ASIN: 1599211319
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Acceptable condition. May contain marks, writing, scuffs, and edge wear. Orders processed and shipped within 24 hours. Choose EXPEDITED for fast delivery.
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Product Description
A young American working on the brutal fault line where the war on terror meets the war on drugs. Joel Hafvenstein signed up for a year in Afghanistan in the heart of the country's opium trade, running an American-funded aid program to help thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government. The author was soon caught up in the deadly intrigues of Helmand's drug trafficking warlords. Click here to read the review in The New York Times or for more information on this title go to opiumseason.com.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 A Brief Introduction to an Impossible Task October 29, 2007
E. Blockley (Columbus, GA USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Joel Hafvenstein's first book somehow manages to juggle the anecdotal familiarity of an autobiographical travellogue with the clinical objectivity of a historical text... somehow leaving the "clinical" by the wayside.
Most Americans saw it on the news that a group of aid workers were killed in Afghanistan in May of 2005. But if that's the extent of your knowledge about aid projects or Afghanistan, ten pages of this book could change your entire perspective on the event. Each chapter introduces you to the aid workers of Chemonics, both Afghani and foreign, with Hafvenstein's signature warmth of loving description. Every page details the near-impossibility of the glass mountain that they climb, endeavoring to help underprivileged agricultural laborers in a country where almost all of the power is in the hands of those who have a vested interest in opium. Every page is a heart-rending yet hopeful account of the unending work that they do in the face of results that may or may not, in the end, be meaningful to the people who need help the most. And as you get to know the people he introduces you to, and as you grow to truly appreciate the dragons they face, you suddenly realize that this book is a true story... and that at the end of this book, some of these characters you have grown to love will die.
Hafvenstein has immortalized for the world several lives that may otherwise be forgotten in the endlessly fickle noise of the evening news. As it turns out, they are lives well worth reading about.
And once you've encompassed the content of the book, the rest is merely a discussion of the talent of the writer. I found that this account of life and work in Afghanistan nearly reads itself... that, despite the incredible depth of information inside, which in and of itself will have me doing a re-read very shortly. Hafventstein has done something rather masterful with his history: he's used every single historical detail to add nuance and interest to every event in the story. Thus you find out how spats between groups of police are actually related to territorial disputes going back for decades... this could easily become dry, but in fact, it remains steadily and even increasingly fascinating as the pages turn.
Another facet of Hafvenstein's particular style: he has a way of writing about the horrors of war and corruption without ranting like a polemicist. His words gather you in, presenting the facts as they happened and respecting your sensibilities enough to let you realize for yourself what it must have been like. But when he describes his own reactions to the things that happened, he switches to a nakedly honest account of his own emotions and motives that I can only wish were more encouraged in journalism.
This is a well-written book... even if it weren't more worthy of being read simply because of its vast importance. People, despite the impossibility of the task, are still doing some good in these countries. Joel, his wife, and countless others will spend their lives chipping steadily away in an effort to make the life of even a single war-ravaged village slightly better. This book somehow explains to you why they're doing it, even while carefully detailing how incredibly difficult it has always been and will continue to be.
Engrossing and Incisive Look at Afghanistan and International Development October 23, 2007
Louna (USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This vivid memoir both tells a gripping story and demonstrates the enormous problems with the U.S.'s current approach to aid and development work in Afghanistan. Despite the best of intentions and the heroic work efforts detailed in this book, Chemonics and its Afghan workers ultimately not only failed in their attempt to provide alternative livelihoods for opium farmers but, in some cases, lost their lives in the struggle. At best, they provided a brief respite from the chaos and terror that has now returned to the province of Helmand. It's amazing that the author has retained his faith in international development and his love for Afghanistan.
Excellent Book December 6, 2007
Matthew W. Weems (San Francisco, CA United States)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I read new books on Afghanistan whenever I can. Visiting Afghanistan seems to bring lunacy to the surface in westerners. Joel Hafvenstein retained his sanity and wrote a good common sense book about an experience that must have been really painful. His writing is easy to read, very expressive, and he does a superb job of explaining the local politics that cripple our efforts there and which we understand so poorly. This is easily the best personal experience book written by an American about Afghanistan so far.
An extremely good read. November 18, 2007
Jens (Stanford, CA United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mr. Hafvenstein is one of the best young non-fiction writers I have read in a while. The subject matter is fascinating, and this book introduces it well without oversimplifying. If you are interested in foreign policy, development, Afghanistan, or simply a human story, I highly recommend this book.
 Good first effort December 26, 2007
A. MacCabe (Maine)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Although it probably wasn't intentional on the authors part, the main point I took away from the book was the general incompetence of American bureaucracy when it comes to dealing with Afghanistan. I was expecting something that revealed the true nature of the Afghan poppy trade and the effect it has, and it's eradication will have, on the people of Afghanistan. Instead I got a glimpse of American arrogance and naivety that is partly to blame for our failure in Iraq, and mishandling of much of Afghanistan.
One excerpt that comes to mind appears about a third of the way through, when the author and his team of aid workers are searching for a house in the city of Lashkargah. They spend time arguing over who is going to make the offer, and which house has the best "western amenities". One particular quip from an American who says they don't want to feel like they're in a war zone. Perhaps he forgot where they were for a second, Afghanistan has been a war zone for the past twenty-five years.
These things aren't the fault of the author, whose writing is very clear and concise. They were only observations of the organization he was working for. Consciously or not, I think the author highlighted the bureaucratic blunders and inefficiencies that have slowed progress in Afghanistan more than he gave readers a view of what the poppy eradication programs will really mean for the Afghan population in the long run. After all, the Americans can wipe out the poppies and go home, but Afghans need to stay, and they need an income.
For a more intimate look into rural Afghan life I highly suggest Rory Stewart's The Places In Between, and The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq for a glimpse into the British reconstruction of southern Iraq.
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