The Long Riders' Guild

"You have written a masterpiece! This is the book that will top all other equestrian travel books."
Jeremy James, Founding Member of the Long Riders’ Guild, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of The Byerley Turk.

"As its remarkable author frankly tells us, Khyber Knights is fictional in its framework but based upon hard fact and actual events. And what a tale it is. We can learn from this book, one of the greatest I have ever read. It is a book that one would not want to live without."
John Rodenbeck, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, American University, Cairo.

"You emerge from the book shaken, albeit the wiser in many aspects of the hardiness of equestrian long distance riding and of human folly in general. Of course Jack London could do it in his time, but CuChullaine O'Reilly has shown us it can still be done in our day."
Bjarke Rink, author of The Centaur Legacy.

"Kipling would have loved Khyber Knights."
Derek O’Connor, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of The King’s Stranger.

"I spent the last two days reading Khyber Knights. I couldn’t put the book down and now that I have read the last sentences I feel orphaned."
Arita Baaijens, Dutch Long Rider, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of Desert Songs.

“The scale of the adventure is mind-blowing. To describe the book as well written would be an injustice to O’Reilly. It is wonderfully crafted and flawlessly executed.”
Neil Clarkson - Publisher, Horse Talk News Service.

Explorers’ Web described CuChullaine O'Reilly as “a living legend” and described his adventure travel book, “Khyber Knights”, as “magical.” Dozens of reviews from around the world have praised this extraordinary equestrian travel book.

After extensive travels in Afghanistan, CuChullaine converted to Islam, journeyed to the Muslim holy city of Mecca and then made a daring solo equestrian journey across Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. The book describes how Boston University then engaged the author to teach journalism to mujahadeen opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. It also reveals the oppressive regime of General Zia-ul-Haq, who had usurped power from Pakistan’s elected government.

Told with grit and realism by one of the world’s foremost equestrian explorers, “Khyber Knights” has been penned the way lives are lived, not how books are written. It makes every effort to rip the reader’s nerves to rags with its ruthless devotion to the unvarnished truth about life in the North West Frontier Provence. You do not read “Khyber Knights”. You survive it!

The newly-released hardback second-edition concludes with an extensive examination of how events witnessed by the author led to the emergence of the Taliban, the ill-advised invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the religious extremism practised by ISIS.

Amply illustrated, the text is accompanied by maps, documentation, and an extensive glossary. After completing the longest recorded horseback ride in Pakistan's history, as described in the book, CuChullaine specialized in equestrian exploration and historical research.

A Founding Member of the Long Riders’ Guild and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers’ Club, CuChullaine has published more than 300 travel books in eight languages and advised more than a hundred equestrian expeditions on every continent except Antarctica.

He spent more than thirty years documenting equestrian travel history, and after six years  completed writing the three-volume Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration, the most extensive study of mounted travel ever produced.

Buy it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.co.uk

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