Some of the questions we received for Monday’s show with Rula Ghani, the First Lady of Afghanistan, were after the same information: What should Americans know about Afghanistan that we don’t? Ghani recommended some books she thought best explained her country and culture.

Ghani recommends A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar “for a first person account of the life an Afghan family during the civil wars of the 1980s and ’90s.”

In An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot, “A young Britisher walks through the Afghan countryside on three different instances.  Beautiful descriptions of a beautiful country,” Ghani says.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll and First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan by Gary Schroen offer good insight into how the U.S. got involved in Afghanistan before Sept. 11.

Miss our show with Ghani? Listen and watch to the interview here.