From Publishers Weekly
"The accumulation of disorder in Pakistan is such that it could well be the next Yugoslavia," writes New Yorker correspondent Weaver (Portrait of Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam). She portrays a country mired in chaos and decay, speculating on whether Musharraf can win his war against the Islamic extremists and offering a portrait of a general she finds enigmatic. Weaver predicts disaster, not only for Pakistan but for the U.S., if he fails in his battle.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Though there have been several new books on Pakistan, these distinct essays, loosely fitted together, by New Yorker correspondent Weaver (Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam) may be perfect for the reader with just a few minutes here and there to pop in and out of the text. Weaver's journalistic contact with Pakistan dates from 1982. She has interviewed two of Pakistan's recent leaders, Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf, whose forceful personalities lend this section of the book an immediacy and authenticity. With greater detachment she describes, also drawing on her travels, the separatist movements in Baluchistan and the Sind, pointing out the consequent deep fault lines in the Pakistani state. Of less interest is her long description of the hunting of the Houbara bustard by many Arab sheikhs. Readers wanting a deeper treatment should try BBC correspondent Owen B. Jones's Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm, a thematic study of the nation's ethnic, religious, political, and geopolitical history. Recommended for public libraries.John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Libs., Mt. PleasantCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Pakistan sits at the nexus of two of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. In its dispute with India over Kashmir, Pakistan is party to a conflict that could easily engulf South Asia in a nuclear war. And, of course, Pakistan remains on the front line of the ongoing war against the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Weaver, a foreign correspondent for the New Yorker, has covered Pakistan and the Middle East extensively over the past decade and offers a portrait of this fractured country that is both absorbing and disturbing. She profiles key players, including current ruler General Musharraf, former leader Benazir Bhutto, and Islamist leaders who preach hatred for the West and support for Osama bin Laden. The roles of Pakistan and--indirectly--the U.S. in building up the Taliban and other jihad forces are a cogent reminder of the law of unintended consequences. This important survey suggests a nation in danger of becoming a "failed state." It is, as Weaver asserts, one of the most fascinating but dangerous places on earth. Jay Freeman
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Review
"Clear-eyed reporting and graceful prose in a highly readable-- and sobering-- work of political geography for policymakers nd anyone concerned with the risks of an uncertain future."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Review
"Clear-eyed reporting and graceful prose in a highly readable-- and sobering-- work of political geography for policymakers nd anyone concerned with the risks of an uncertain future."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Book Description
An eyewitness account by an acclaimed New Yorker reporter
Wedged between India and Afghanistan, Pakistan is the second-largest nation in the Islamic world, and is situated in what is currently one of the most volatile regions on earth. It has assumed a commanding role in militant Islam, a frightening portent being its creation of Afghanistan's bizarre fundamentalist student militia, the Taliban; and with some fifteen private Islamist armies and at least twenty nuclear weapons, it is considered to be one of the most terrifying places in the world. Its disintegration would pose an unthinkable threat to the United States and the West, and the man who will determine Pakistan's future course is the little-known, enigmatic General Pervez Musharraf.
Mary Anne Weaver presents her personal journey through a country in turmoil, reconstructing, largely in the voices of the key participants themselves--Generals Musharraf and Zia, and Benazir Bhutto--the legacies now haunting Pakistan in the aftermath of the U.S.-sponsored jihad of the 1980s in Afghanistan. Fusing geopolitical choices with a vivid portrait of a land--of its people, its mystery, and its clans--Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan, provides an essential background for those seeking to understand the problems the international community now faces, and poses some deeply disturbing questions about the future of conflict in South Asia.
About the Author
Mary Anne Weaver is a foreign correspondent for The New Yorker, and is the author of A Portrait of Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam (FSG, 1999). An Alicia Patterson Fellow for 2001, she and her husband divide their time between New York City and Santa Monica
Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan FROM OUR EDITORS
Utilizing her unprecedented access to Pakistan's leaders, New Yorker foreign correspondent Mary Anne Weaver (critically aclaimed for her 1999 book, A Portrait of Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam, presents a portrait of a critical U.S. ally that is tottering toward disintegration. Weaver develops her insider's insights during a personal journey through this militant and strife-ridden country. Interviews with General Pervez Musharrarf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto expose the fragility of Pakistani governments.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"No nation is more critical to United States foreign policy than Pakistan. Wedged between India and Afghanistan, it is the second-largest country in the Islamic world, and is situated in one of the world's most volatile regions. It has also assumed a commanding role in militant Islam - a frightening portent being its embrace of Afghanistan's bizarre fundamentalist student militia, the Taliban. With a dozen or so private Islamist armies and some thirty to fifty nuclear weapons, it is considered one of the most frightening places on earth. Its disintegration would pose an unthinkable threat to the United States and the West, but the man who will determine Pakistan's future course is the little-known and enigmatic General Pervez Musharraf." In Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan, Mary Anne Weaver elucidates a country in turmoil through two decades of eyewitness reporting and unparalleled access to Pakistan's presidents, prime ministers, generals, and politicians. Here are rare and revealing portraits of General Musharraf who rose through the ranks to become Benazir Bhutto's Chief of Military Operations and then assumed control in a historic military coup; of General Zia, who launched Pakistan on its present militant Islamist course while at the same time transforming it into the hub of U.S. policy on the Indian subcontinent; and of Benazir Bhutto herself - charismatic, imperious, conflicted, commanding, and the first woman prime minister of an Islamic country.
SYNOPSIS
Weaver, a foreign correspondent for The New Yorker, has been visiting Pakistan as a reporter since the 1980s. She provides a clear analysis of the complex current political situation there (through July 2002) that contains canny discussion of the views and motivations of political figures as well as ordinary Pakistanis, based on extensive travel and interviews. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
"The accumulation of disorder in Pakistan is such that it could well be the next Yugoslavia," writes New Yorker correspondent Weaver (Portrait of Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam). She portrays a country mired in chaos and decay, speculating on whether Musharraf can win his war against the Islamic extremists and offering a portrait of a general she finds enigmatic. Weaver predicts disaster, not only for Pakistan but for the U.S., if he fails in his battle. Agent, Heather Schroder, ICM. (Oct.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Though there have been several new books on Pakistan, these distinct essays, loosely fitted together, by New Yorker correspondent Weaver (Egypt: A Journey Through the World of Militant Islam) may be perfect for the reader with just a few minutes here and there to pop in and out of the text. Weaver's journalistic contact with Pakistan dates from 1982. She has interviewed two of Pakistan's recent leaders, Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf, whose forceful personalities lend this section of the book an immediacy and authenticity. With greater detachment she describes, also drawing on her travels, the separatist movements in Baluchistan and the Sind, pointing out the consequent deep fault lines in the Pakistani state. Of less interest is her long description of the hunting of the Houbara bustard by many Arab sheikhs. Readers wanting a deeper treatment should try BBC correspondent Owen B. Jones's Pakistan: The Eye of the Storm, a thematic study of the nation's ethnic, religious, political, and geopolitical history. Recommended for public libraries.-John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Libs., Mt. Pleasant
Kirkus Reviews
Pakistan is a terrorist haven, a nest of corruption, a tinhorn dictatorship-and, writes New Yorker correspondent and long-time Pakistan resident Weaver, a supposed friend whose future is of great strategic importance to the US. Weaver (A Portrait of Egypt, 1999) prophesies that "the real battleground [against Islamicist terrorists] will be Pakistan," the strife-torn country at the crossroads of South Asia and Central Asia that has been instrumental in shaping power relations in the region. As, too, has been the American government, which comes in for some hard knocks in Weaver's pages. To judge by her account, Osama bin Laden was a product of the CIA as much as of the darker side of Arab nationalism, though his wide contacts with Pakistan's military, scientific, and commercial elite haven't hurt his ascent. Traveling to places like Karachi, where tensions between Sindhi and Pashtun ethnic factions threaten to erupt in civil war at a moment's notice, and Peshawar, where "well-appointed villas-including a number owned by Osama bin Laden-nestle concealed behind towering, whitewashed walls," Weaver talks to fundamentalists and secularists alike, exploring the rifts that obtain among progressives and those who have nearly succeeded in turning Pakistan into a theocracy along the lines of Iran or Taliban-era Afghanistan, stymied only by a military dictatorship as corrupt as any in the world. She does not quite say as much, but one gets the sense that Islamicist victory is imminent-especially because the US is pursuing an antiterrorist policy that targets al-Qaeda almost exclusively while overlooking dozens of Pakistan-based groups that may be more dangerous and murderous still. And if thatvictory is forthcoming, she warns, "Pakistan could well become the world's newest failed state-a failed state with nuclear weapons." Clear-eyed reporting and graceful prose in a highly readable-and sobering-work of political geography for policymakers and anyone concerned by the risks of an uncertain future.
Art & Photography
Book Info
