Adil Najam
We at ATP like books. Over the last many months we have featured and discussed a number of books that relate to Pakistan in various ways.
I must confess that I had always hoped that we would talk more about books than we have. I hope we will be able to do so in the future. As a step towards that goal, we would like to invite our readers to share with us your suggestions of books on Pakistan that are worth reading.
This is not a popularity contest. We have no awards to give. We merely want to collate a list of books on Pakistan that people consider to be interesting reads. Specially those that you would consider recommending to others for whatever reason.
We have only two criteria:
- First, that the books you suggest must be about Pakistan, and significantly so. We, of course, realize that many Pakistanis read many books that are not about Pakistan, but the focus of this blog is not only on ‘All’ Things Pakistan, but also ‘Only’ things about Pakistan.
- Second, for the purpose of this first exercise please restrict your suggestions to books in the English language. This is a pragmatic, and not an ideological, criteria. The universe of books in Urdu is much larger - especially when one includes works of fiction and poetry - and hopefully we will have a separate exercise on those. For now, we wish to start small by focusing only on English language books.
The plan right now is to make this post and list a standing feature and to keep adding to it as readers share their suggestions and ideas. Hopefully this will be a useful service to those interested in Pakistan and Pakistaniat.
The following list was written mostly in the 1990s, and can be very useful for those of us who were too young to understand/follow the political and economic issues in detail in those days. These publications contain some important details that are often missing in books giving 50-60 year overviews of Pakistan’s history. Since they were written earlier, they are less loaded with hind sight and contain assessments of the issues during the Bhutto, Zia and post-Zia periods when these governments were either in power or had just been ousted.
1. Pakistan Under Bhutto
Shahid Javed Burki, 1980
2. Pakistan under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia Ul-Haq.
Authors: Kamal Azfar, Craig Baxter, Shahid Javed Burki, Robert Laporte Jr.
Westview Press, 1991.
3. Contemporary Problems of Pakistan.
J. Henry Korson -editor,
Westview Press, 1993.
The following were written as a series of biennial assessments of contemporary events and issues in Pakistan affairs during the 1990s (I don’t know whether they continued the series after 1997).
4. Pakistan: 1992
Charles H. Kennedy, ed,
Westview Press, 1993.
5. Pakistan: 1995.
Contributors: Charles H. Kennedy, Rasul Bakhsh Rais.
Westview Press, 1995.
6.
Pakistan, 1997.
editors: Craig Baxter, Charles H. Kennedy.
Westview Press, 1998.
1. Leaving Home
A Collection of English Prose by Pakistani Writers
Selected and Edited by Muneeza Shamsie
2. Beloved City
Writings on Lahore
Editor:Bapsi Sidhwa
nice blog.
sorry for myself, i have only read two books in the collage above, and know of only 2 more.
“Karachi - Mega city of our times by oxford” is a really cool book, however, its more about historical life rather than what the name suggested to me at first. the chapters on life in the 60’s and 70’s are worth reading. Besides its the only book which increased my knowledge on local figures, for instance Frere, Napier, Abdullah Haroon and others.
Can anyone recommend a neutral book on Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto?
my favourite book on pakistan is a work of fiction - shame by rushdie published in early 80’s. written in typical rushdie style, the book is a very unique and uncomfortable take on pakistan and deals a lot with life under zia. shame was written when rushdie used to be good i.e. before satanic verses. i used to think rushdie was completely indian but apparently his family moved to pakistan and rushdie worked for radio pakistan for a short while in early 70’s. rushdie himself has never linked himself with pak which is understandable because in gora circles, india is more fashionable than pakistan is and indianess helps to sell more books. i wonder if rushdie’s family still resides in pakistan? i think his sister might still be there.
waisay i also wonder why pakistanis would read books on pakistan written by goras? goras certainly dont know pakistan as well as pakistanis do. plus goras have always been biased against islam and a country that is so closely associated with islam will never get a sympathetic treatment at the hands of goras. a muslim country with the bomb even less so.
also books published by pakistani authors for gora audiences are completely useless as well. goras only like to read books written by natives who reinforce gora viewpoint. halo surrounding ayaan hirsi’s “book” is a good example of this. any pakistani author presenting pakistani viewpoint wont be able to sell books in goraland and thus will never get a contract.
These books are certainly worth checking. However, in addition to the above, it is also very important to read some material on the issues of Pakistan’s socio-economic development, a topic that is badly missing in the whole list.
Here are a few suggestions.
1. Pakistan: Fifty Years of Nationhood.
Shahid Javed Burki, Westview Press, 1999
2. Pakistan’s Economic and Social Development: The Domestic, Regional and Global Context
by S. Akbar Zaidi, 2004
3. Issues in Pakistan’s Economy
by S. Akbar Zaidi, 1999
4. The New Development Paradigm: Papers on Institutions, Ngos, Gender and Local Government.
by S. Akbar Zaidi
5. Pakistan : The Economy of an Elitist State
Ishrat Husain
The wikipedia page on Pakistan’s economy also has a list of books:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Pakistan
@Arsalan Ali
My reaction to Stephen Cohen’s book was not as positive as yours. My reaction to his ‘Idea of Pakistan’ was that he has no idea about Pakistan. Having read his earlier work, I have never been very impressed by him.
The book that I have not yet read but recently bougth is Shameful Flight by Stanley Wolpert, whose earlier books on Jinnah, Bhotto and Gandhi I greatly admire. Nice to see it in teh list above and am planning to read it soon.
Taboo:The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area by Fouzia Saeed.
[Amazon Review]
Book Description
This book takes you on a journey of discovery into the famous red light district of Shahi Mohalla in Lahore. The author tells her story through the lives of the people linked to the Shahi Mohalla: the prostitutes with their pimps, managers and customers, as well as the musicians and others. Through their stories, the book also highlights the contributions that these people have made to the world of the performing arts. Pakistani society has created and reinforced many myths to explain why prostitution has nothing to do with ‘nice people’. These myths put all the blame on ‘immoral’ women who are responsible for tricking ‘honest’ men into sinful acts. Pakistani society has also strongly discouraged anyone from questioning these myths. By exposing the myths about prostitution, the book helps to eradicate a blind spot in our understanding of power relations experienced by all women throughout Pakistani society.
About the Author
Fouzia Saeed, with a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Minnesota, has spent the past twelve years in positions related to the task of engendering social change in Pakistan, with organizations like National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Aga Khan Foundation, and UNDP, Pakistan. She was a founder of the first private organization in Pakistan providing direct services to women in psychological crises, especially those related to rape and domestic violence.
[/Amazon Review]
THE IDEA OF PAKISTAN
BY Stephen P. Cohen
Hardcover: 367 pages
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (September 2004)
Language: English
A great book, which gives a thorough and up to date account of Pakistan.It identifies many of the root causes of the problems our country faces today.The central theme is contained in the title of the book: The Idea of Pakistan. He describes how the idea originated, how it developed and crystallised, and the challenges that Pakistan faces today.The book ends with a presentation on the various possible scenarios / paths that Pakistan could take.Some of which are pretty scary, and possibly signs of things to come.