Review of Lyse Doucet’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul
Lyse Doucet’s book, 'The Finest Hotel in Kabul,' chronicles the history of Afghanistan through the lens of the Inter-Continental Hotel. The narrative explores the nation's resilience amidst decades of political instability and conflict.
Why it matters
It provides a unique historical perspective on Afghanistan's modernization and subsequent turmoil through the microcosm of a landmark institution.
Lyse Doucet checked into Inter-Continental Kabul for the first time after she landed in the city on Christmas day in 1988. As a BBC journalist who was there to report on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country, she had no idea how long she would be there. She ended up staying close to a year, and was a guest there many times in the years that followed. In The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan , which won the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, Doucet returns to the Inter-Continental, popularly known as the Inter-Con, and uses the story of the hotel and its staff to narrate the history of a war-torn, yet resilient nation.
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