Reporting on the Taliban

From a UW-Madison student, Beth Mueller:

Want to write an engaging book? Study in-depth reporting!

After reading Ahmed Rashid's Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia , I've come to the conclusion that anyone writing a book on current events or recent history (or however we categorize that), should study the reporting techniques Rashid uses.

Highlights:

1. Detail after detail about the personal histories of major Taliban figures. When a regime is this secretive and often difficult to understand, this kind of information is just vital for understanding. An example: Rashid talks about the common background many Taliban recruits shared as orphans in gender-segregated refugee camps, being taught an extreme Islamic fundamentalism. No wonder then, that they oppressed women as rulers.

2. Narrative storytelling. Be still my heart, this is a book about history that actually engages readers. Setting scenes and giving lots of physical descriptions really draws interest to the mounds of facts Rashid dug up.

Drawback:

1. Somebody please get this guy some subheads. In-depth reporting requires serious structuring as it stands as long-form journalism, not to mention something as long-form as a book. Rashid's work is interesting and engaging, but still hard to read because it has little structural organization, which is needed even within the loosely grouped chapters.

In all, the reporting techniques Rashid used made the story of the Taliban pop in a personal way. This book, published right before Sept. 11 and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, certainly provides valuable information in a fantastic genre.