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Anatol Lieven's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Anatol Lieven recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Anatol Lieven's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
Examines the history of Islam - especially that of local mullahs, or Muslim clerics-in the North-West Frontier, an autonomous zone straddling the boundary of Pakistan and Afghanistan. less
Recommended by Anatol Lieven, and 1 others.

Anatol LievenBecause it brings out the tremendous depth of the tradition of religiously justified – though not always religiously motivated – resistance to foreign incursion and foreign domination in the Pashtun areas of what is now Pakistan. Sana Haroon studies the tradition of Pashtun rebellion against the British in that part of the world in the 19th and early 20th century. This is something that both the... (Source)

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2
This book by a leading scholar is the definitive history of Pakistan. Beginning with an examination of the people and forces that shaped the construction of an independent, predominantly Muslim state within the subcontinent, Ziring provides an incisive and comprehensive description of the events that influenced Pakistan's development in the subsequent fifty years. less
Recommended by Anatol Lieven, and 1 others.

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3

Pakistan

A Modern History

This book fills the need for a broad, historically sophisticated understanding of Pakistan, a country at fifty which is understood by many in the West only in terms of stereotypes--the fanatical, authoritarian and reactionary "other" which is unfavorably compared to a tolerant, democratic and progressive India. There is a need at the time of Pakistan's golden jubilee for it to be taken seriously in its own right as a country of 130 million people. It is in reality a complex plural society which although greatly shaped by the colonial inheritance and circumstances of its birth is also... more
Recommended by Anatol Lieven, and 1 others.

Anatol LievenSimply because it’s terribly important for Westerners to know the facts about Pakistani history and to have an understanding of where Pakistan today is coming from and how it was shaped. Ian Talbot’s book remains the standard work on that subject. His is the essential historical textbook that everybody needs to read. It’s essentially a straightforward narrative history with analysis, starting... (Source)

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4

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

“The rural rootedness and gentle humour of R.K. Narayan with the literary sophistication and stylishness of Jhumpa Lahiri.”—Financial Times

Passing from the mannered drawing rooms of Pakistan’s cities to the harsh mud villages beyond, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s linked stories describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family, industrialists who have lost touch with the land. In the spirit of Joyce’s Dubliners and Turgenev’s A Sportsman’s Sketches, these stories comprehensively...

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Recommended by Anatol Lieven, and 1 others.

Anatol LievenI put it on my list for two reasons. The first is that simply he’s so good. Some of his stories I would say rival Chekhov in their ability to put across character, place and situation in a very vivid and deep way in a very short space. I mention Chekhov and the Russian writers deliberately because I think the other thing that makes him so interesting is that besides being half American, he also... (Source)

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5

Toba Tek Singh

Stories

Recommended by Anatol Lieven, and 1 others.

Anatol LievenIt’s interesting that while people stress what Pakistan and Pakistani culture lost by partition from India, Manto demonstrates that India also lost something. Manto was writing scripts for the Indian film industry before partition. Oddly enough, Muslims, perhaps because of the strong tradition of culture and music in the Muslim court in South Asia, have always played a disproportionally large... (Source)

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