The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation

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Walsh uses nine lives from Pakistan to tell the story of one of the world’s most perplexing (and misunderstood) countries.

Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. Despite being a complex read, The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation is compelling, and it is worth persevering since it provides a detailed personal discovery of an extremely interesting country.Significantly, the book opens in 2013 during the election between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, which indicates Walsh’s focus on the history of political tensions and how Pakistan didn’t want a similar ‘blood-soaked independence of 1947’ (pg xviii). As the global community continues to grapple with the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Atlantic Council is open for business. Member countries should be realistic about what a new WTO director-general can actually accomplish, beyond a formal facilitating role.

With a razor-sharp eye and propensity for detail, this is the definitive guide to the much-misunderstood country. Manto is the ultimate antidote to the saccharine portraits of what Pakistan is, or could be, that are favored by Pakistanis ideologues. I am a South Asia specialist by profession and have therefore ploughed my way through many books written in a dry and lifeless style. The demise of Pakistan - a country with a reputation for volatility, brutality and radical Islam - is regularly predicted.As a result, I would encourage people to read the book to find out more about the people who were affected by the politics of the country as well as the connecting threads between them. It would have been valuable to include more women in the book since Walsh notes how ‘as ever, women suffer most’ (pg 226). You’re quoting Sadat Hasan Manto, a giant of 20th century Urdu literature, with regard to Pakistani history, culture, and politics.