Summary of Ben Macintyre's The Man Who Would Be King

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Josiah Harlan’s hunt for a crown began with a letter. He had been sent to China by his brothers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to make a fortune, but he ended up becoming an Oriental potentate with his own army. #2 Josiah Harlan was a young American in a young America, and he was impatient, ambitious, and utterly convinced of his own abilities. He grew up in the America of Thomas Jefferson, a place of infinite space and possibility. #3 Josiah’s wanderlust and interest in medicine can be traced to his brother Richard, who had entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1816. He had returned from a voyage to Calcutta as a surgeon of an East India ship in 1820, and brought back tales of his voyage and of the sights and sounds of India. #4 Harlan’s journey to the East in 1821 was filled with adventure and romance. He fell in love with a woman named Eliza Swaim, but when he returned home in 1822, she had already married someone else.