The Man Who Would Be King is literature’s most famous adventure story, penned by the renowned Rudyard Kipling. This stirring tale follows two happy-go-lucky British ne’er-do-wells as they attempt to carve out their own kingdom in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. Amidst its raucous humor and swashbuckling bravado, the story offers a devastatingly astute dissection of imperialism and its heroic pretensions.

Written when Kipling was only 22 years old, the novella features some of his most crystalline prose and one of the most beautifully rendered, spectacularly exotic settings he ever used. Best of all, it features two of his most unforgettable characters, the ultra-vivid Cockneys Peachy Carnahan and Daniel Dravot, who impart to the story its ultimate, astonishing twist: it is both a tragedy and a triumph.

This novella is part of the Art of The Novella Series by Melville House, celebrating this renegade art form beloved by literature's greatest writers.