Pakistan has been in the World News a bit lately and it is unfortunate what we’ve seen. The Taliban is on the run and some of them are heading to other nations like Somalia. The Swat Valley is being dismantled by the Pakistani Military, but some of this is for show and the Taliban has folks on all sides of the game, and there are brothers fighting against each other today for control. There is a lot more to it than you know.
So, if you think you understand how daily life is in rural Pakistan or in the more remote regions, but have never in your life been there, then boy do I have a great book recommendation for you. I noted this author’s interview on C-SPAN and then went to the bookstore the next day, and took a look see for a few hours in the coffee shop there, I couldn’t put it down, so, I purchased a copy for myself. After reading through it, I must say this author is a good read, so let me recommend it to you:
“To Live or To Perish Forever; Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan,” by Nicholas Schmidle; Henry Holt and Company Publishing, USA; (2009); ISBN-13: 978-0805089387
The author met many in the Taliban, went to secret camps. He writes with a bit of objectivity, yet, presents suspended unattached commentary about the complexity of their society. This is indeed an awesome piece of journalism in my opinion and Nicholas Schmidle is cool “journal” like read, he’s a very good story teller, as the CSPAN interviewer noted and after reading the book I could not agree more with his assessment.
There are some very scary situations and stories in the book, and some very interesting parties and celebrations. Most fascinating is how he describes the presence of poetry and philosophy in the 250 pages very cool book. I bet you’d like to read it too. Please consider this.