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.
I want to recommend Shaila Abdullah’s book Beyond the Cayenne Wall. It won quite a few awards I believe. The stories are very inspiring and reminiscent of life back home. Here is her website: http://www.shailaabdullah.com/
I strongly reccommend ‘Pakistan’s Strategic Culture and Foreign Policy Making: A Study of Pakistan’s Post 9/11 Afghan Policy’ by Ijaz Khan for a fresh deeper and better understanding of Pakistan and its predicaments.
By the way, just finished reading “Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam” by Zahid Hussain and I would certainly add that to my list of book to read on Pakistan politics. I thought it explained why we are in the mess we are in very very well.
I am working on Pakistan’s regional role, especially in the context of ‘War against Terrorism’. I found recent books about Pakistan by Ayesha Sadiqua Agha’s Military Incorporated, Hussain Haqqani;s Pakistan between Mosque and Military, Mary Ann Weaver’s Pakistan in the Shadow of Afghanistan and Jihad, and the latest one by the little known Professor from Peshawar Ijaz Khan Pakistan’s Strategic Culture and Foreign Policy Making to be excellent studies of their subject that is Pakistan today and a must study for any one trying to understand the phenomenon of Pakistan
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
Title: Pakistan