Atmospheric Violence grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed conflict and examines how people attempt to flourish despite and alongside continuing violence. Departing from conventional approaches to the study of disaster and conflict that have dominated academic studies of Kashmir, Omer Aijazi's ethnography of life in the borderlands instead explores possibilities for imagining life otherwise, in an environment where violence is everywhere, or atmospheric.Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the portion of Kashmir under Pakistan's control and its surrounding mountainscapes, the book takes us to two remote mountainous valleys that have been shaped by recurring environmental disasters, as well as by the landscape of no-go zones, army barracks, and security checkpoints of the contested India/Pakistan border. Through a series of interconnected scenes from the lives of five protagonists, all of whom are precariously situated within their families or societies and rarely enjoy the expected protections of state or community, Aijazi reveals the movements, flows, and intimacies sustained by a landscape that enables alternative modes of life. Blurring the distinctions between story, theory, and activism, he explores what emerges when theory becomes a project of seeing and feeling from the non-normative standpoint of those who, like the book's protagonists, do not subscribe to the rules by which most others have come to know the world.Bringing the critical study of disaster into conversation with a radical humanist anthropology and the capaciousness of affect theory, held accountable to Black studies and Indigenous studies, Aijazi offers a decolonial approach to disaster studies centering not on trauma and rupture but rather on repair--the social labor through which communities living with disaster refuse the conditions of death imposed upon them and create viable lives for themselves, even amidst constant diminishment and world-annihilation.

This is a resilient women's memoir about her very eventful life as the wife of an Army officer who after retiring as a Major General of Pakistan Army., served as Pakistan's ambassador to Morocco. Reading the real life story of Zeenat Azra's diverse life view points and her experiences at the highest level will give the reader a better perspective about life in general, as well as providing a first person account of life in armed forces which is quiet different from the widespread perception of affluence, perks and luxury.

Dive into the intricate and compelling history of Pakistan with "Chequered Past, Uncertain Future: The History of Pakistan" by Tahir Kamran. This meticulously researched book provides an in-depth exploration of Pakistan's tumultuous journey from its inception to its current state. Tahir Kamran, a renowned historian, meticulously traces the complex socio-political landscape of Pakistan, highlighting key events, influential figures, and pivotal moments that have shaped the nation. From the struggle for independence and the partition of India, through decades of military rule and democratic upheavals, to the ongoing challenges of governance and regional stability, this book offers a comprehensive narrative that is both informative and thought-provoking. Key Features: Comprehensive History: Gain a detailed understanding of Pakistan's past and present, exploring the nation's triumphs and tribulations. Expert Analysis: Tahir Kamran's scholarly insight provides a nuanced perspective on Pakistan's historical events and their impact on its future. Engaging Narrative: Written in an accessible and engaging style, this book is perfect for both history enthusiasts and general readers. Timely and Relevant: With Pakistan's role on the global stage evolving, this book offers a timely reflection on its uncertain future. Keywords: History of Pakistan, Tahir Kamran, Pakistan's independence, socio-political landscape, military rule, democratic upheavals, regional stability, comprehensive history, expert analysis, engaging narrative, Pakistani history, South Asian history, political history, contemporary issues in Pakistan. Embark on a journey through Pakistan's chequered past and explore the possibilities of its uncertain future with this authoritative and insightful work. Perfect for readers seeking to understand the complexities of this dynamic nation.

Christophe Jaffrelot's revealing book shows how Modi's Gujarat served as the laboratory of Modi's India, not only in terms of Hindu majoritarianism and national populism, but also of caste and class politics.

‘Hostility’ is largely based on Abdul Basit’s tenure in India as Pakistan High Commissioner from March 2014 to August 2017. It is his fascinating account of Pakistan-India relations at the time, the ups and downs that generated hopes and created stalemates; how the two sides dealt with them; why and how the bilateral relationship reached the present troublesome phase; whether there is any realistic possibility that the two countries would ever be able to become normal neighbors’, as he writes in his book. Abdul Basit’s important book sheds light on questions of diplomacy and state interest that are as pertinent as ever.

"At its peak, the Mughal Empire stretched from Kabul in the northwest and covered most of the South Asian subcontinent. Descendants of Timur (Tamerlane), the Mughal emperors ruled over the land from the 16th century through to the late 17th century and are credited with producing some of the most beautiful artefacts and architecture in India. During this period, the rulers encouraged artistry, reformed government and accelerated the development of Indian transport and communications. The Mughals were a Muslim dynasty descended from the famous Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. The dynasty was founded when a ruler from Turkestan, known as Babur, defeated the Sultan of Delhi in 1526 and began to expand his influence. His grandson Akbar further secured the throne and encouraged greater unity between Muslims, Hindus and Christians, while also promoting the arts and education. It was during Akbar's reign that India began its relationship with Britain, a relationship that still exists today and has contributed to both countries immeasurably. The influence of the Mughals began to dwindle in the early 17th century following intolerance between religious groups and numerous rebellions. By the 18th century, large portions of India were under the control of the British. The British Library's Mughal India exhibition is the first to document the entire period, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, through more than 200 exquisite objects. Visitors can see authentic artefacts from the period and gain an insight into the arts and culture of the empire."--Publisher's website

Robert Fisk picks up reporting on the Middle East where his book "The great war for civilization" left off, starting with the aftermath of the Iraq invasion in 2005. From the Arab uprisings and the Syrian civil war to Israel's wars against Palestine and Lebanon, he condemns the West's ongoing hypocrisy and interference while exposing the horrific realities of life on the ground. Using a combination of journalism, historical analysis, and eyewitness reporting, Fisk delivers an essential account of the last twenty years, exposing the consequences of colonial oppression and violence in the Middle East.

Tariq Rahman's autobiography can be enjoyed for its accessible and humorous style of writing. It reads like a story of a certain sub-culture of Pakistani society which touches upon lived life in the armed forces and universities of the country. It also touches upon life in other countries and some of the world's top universities: University of California, Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford and Heidelberg. It is also of interest for both social and academic historians since they can cross check certain accounts of trends, fashions and attitudes in different walks of life in Pakistan and abroad. It provides valuable insights into the way universities functioned and how research was done in Pakistan between the 1980s till 2024. The author's way of functioning may not be the typical way in which most academics functioned but still it provides some understanding of the processes of conducting research, publishing and teaching. It is relevant to mention that there is paucity of biographical accounts of academics in Pakistan. This autobiography, therefore, is an attempt to fill in this gap in biographical literature.

"This book explains how colonial legacies and the postcolonial state of Pakistan negatively influenced the socio-political and cultural dynamics and the security situation in Pakistan's Pashtun 'tribal' areas, formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It offers a local perspective on peace and conflict resolution in Pakistan's Pashtun 'tribal' region. Discussing the history and background of the former-FATA region, the role of Pashtun conflict resolution mechanism of Jirga, and the persistence of colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the region, the author argues that the persistence of colonial legacies in the Pashtun 'tribal' areas, especially the FCR, coupled with the overarching influence of the military on security policy has negatively impacted the security situation in the region. By focusing on the Jirga and Jirga-based Lashkars (or Pashtun militias), the book demonstrates how Pashtuns have engaged in their own initiatives to handle the rise of militancy in their region. Moreover, the book contends that, even after the introduction of constitutional reforms and FATA's merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, little has changed in the region, especially regarding the treatment of 'tribal' Pashtuns as equal citizens of Pakistan. This book explains, in detail, why indigenous methods of peace and conflict resolution, such as the Jirga, could play "some" role towards long-term peace in the South Asian region. Historically and contextually informed with a focus on North-West Pakistan, this book will be of interest to academics researching South Asian Studies, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, terrorism, and traditional justice and restorative forms of peace-making"--

The book is nothing less than a treasure trove, especially if you are seeking to learn about your favorite celebrity who may or may not be alive today. Published in late 2019, the book discusses Khawaja Najam ul Hasan’s meetings with many Pakistani artists including Madam Noor Jehan, Farida Khanum, Mehdi Hassan, Sabiha Khanum, Runa Laila, Musarrat Nazir, Rani Begum, Shamim Ara, Tahira Syed and Tina Sani to name a few. It reveals why Madam Noor Jehan agreed to be part of TV show Tarannum when she was at her peak; what made veteran film actress Musarrat Nazir make a comeback as a singer in the 1980s; why did Shehnaz Sheikh host the comeback show of Iqbal Bano? Khawaja Najam ul Hasan talks about all these artistes and more, adding his own point of view in the process. For those looking for the history of Pakistan television, especially the last 50 years, this book will prove to be ideal for research purposes. How PTV covered the Islamic Summit Conference in 1974, what made the general elections of 1977 historic and what were the restrictions TV producers faced during the Zia ul Haq regime… the author talks about it in detail, with no holds barred. However, one feels that some of the information he shares should have been kept confidential. There is trivia that reads as either delicate and sensitive or completely irrelevant and inconsequential. While the book mentions some of Pakistan’s biggest celebrities, it also talks about those who visited from across the border, including Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, and Shabana Azmi. The author also writes about his visit to India where he got to meet Asha Bhosle; his excitement from that meeting is evident in the way he has written the chapter. While there is mention of Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor, who visited Pakistan while they were filming Henna, there is hardly any mention of Kareena Kapoor-Khan in the book, who is for some reason on the cover alongside the legends. As for some of the chapters, the editor should not have followed the mini-biographies format, because there was too much information that could have been carefully inserted in text, rather than compiled in a haphazard manner. Stars From Another Sky! doesn’t have colored photographs, which would have enhanced the historical value of this book, and yes, his photographs with celebrities are worth the readers’ attention but a few behind the scenes photographs would have done a great service to fans and followers of PTV too. The book reads more like a diary when it should have read like a book that talks about Pakistan Television’s history and about the people who made it a great institution. One hopes that the author will have it re-edited ahead of the second edition, to make it seem more like a well-researched documentary, something he excels in. Some of the dates need to be rechecked (Tansen didn’t air in 1988!); some of the information needs to be deleted and when that’s done, this book will be in a league of its own.

'A rigorously researched and gripping account... a beautifully written book' - Kathrin Hille, Financial Times. 'Excellent and timely… Khan’s book suggests that military conflict is not inevitable and that calm heads, open communication and the spirit of compromise could yet save us from a third world war' - Neal E. Robbins, Literary Review 'Deeply researched and fascinating' - The Guardian A gripping account of the past and future of Taiwan. In the overwhelming chaos across Asia at the end of the Second World War, one relatively minor issue was the future of the Japanese colony of Taiwan, a large island some one hundred miles off the coast of Fujian. Handed to the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China, in 1949 it suddenly became the focus of global attention as a random cross-section of defeated Nationalists, including President Chiang Kai-shek, fled there from Mao's triumphant Communist forces. The Struggle for Taiwan is a balanced and convincing account of the sequence of events that has left Taiwan for generations as a political anomaly, with issues around its status and future continuing to threaten war. With deepening democratization, Taiwan further goads Beijing, remaining functionally independent from China even as Xi Jinping clamours for unification. This invaluable book allows readers to understand the complex story of this unique place and its role in international relations. With its striking economic dynamism and commitment to democracy, can Taiwan continue - as Hong Kong once did - to thrive, or will China conquer it? And will the world be able to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait or will it stumble into war?

India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world. In the millennium and a half from c. 250 BC to 1200 AD, Indian art, religion, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world - a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. Like ancient Greece, ancient India came up with a set of profound answers to the big questions about what the world is, how it operates, why we are here and how we should live our lives. Today, over half the world's population lives in areas where Indian religions and culture are, or once were, dominant. The Golden Road reveals how Indian ideas transformed the world, crossing political borders to influence everything from the statues of Indian ascetics in Roman seaports to Buddhism in Japan, and the observatories of Baghdad to crucial mathematical concepts such as 'zero' - and even the very numbers we use to this day. Drawing from a lifetime of scholarship, award-winning historian William Dalrymple argues that India is one of the two great intellectual and philosophical superpowers of Asia.

"Coates originally set off to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell's classic Politics and the English Language, but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories-our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking-expose and distort our realities. The first of the book's three intertwining essays is set in Dakar, Senegal. Despite being raised as a strict Afrocentrist-and named for Nubian pharaoh-Coates had never set foot on the African continent until now. He roams the "steampunk" city of "old traditions and new machinery," meeting with strangers and dining with local writers who quiz him in French about African American politics. But everywhere he goes he feels as if he's in two places at once: a modern city in Senegal and a mythic kingdom in his mind, the pan-African homeland he was raised to believe was the origin and destiny for all black people. Finally he travels to the slave castles off the coast and touches the ocean that carried his ancestors away in chains-and has his own reckoning with the legacy of the Afrocentric dream. Back in the USA he takes readers along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he explores a different mythology, this one enforced on its subjects by the state. He enters the world of the teacher whose job is threatened for teaching one of Coates's own books and discovers a community of mostly white supporters who were transformed and even radicalized by the stories they discovered in the "racial reckoning" of 2020. But he also explores the backlash to this reckoning and the deeper myths and stories of the community-a capital of the confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over the its public squares. In Palestine, the longest of the essays, he discovers the devastating gap between the narratives we've accepted and the clashing reality of life on the ground. He meets with activists and dissidents, Israelis and Palestinians--the old, who remember their dispossessions on two continents, and the young who have only known struggle and disillusionment. He travels into Jerusalem, the heart of Zionist mythology, and to the occupied territories, where he sees the reality the myth is meant to hide. It is this hidden story that draws him in and profoundly changes him--and makes the war that would soon come all the more devastating"--

After seventy-five years of independence, the history of Pakistan remains centered on the state, its ideology and the two-nation theory. Towards Peoples' Histories in Pakistan seeks to shift that focus away from histories of an imagined nation, to the history of its peoples. Based on the premise that the historiographical tradition in Pakistan has ignored the existence of people who actually make history, this book brings together historians, anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists to shed light on the diverse histories of the people themselves. Assembling histories of events and peoples missing from grand narratives of national history, the essays in this collection incorporate a diversity of approaches to the past as it opens the possibilities of multiple histories, the archives through which they are registered, and the various temporalities in which they persist.

The year is 1971. After decades of military rule, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League has won a landslide victory in the first election based on universal franchise in Pakistan. But the euphoria is short-lived. Instead of handing over power to the winner, the military regime cracks down on the Eastern Wing of the country to crush the movement for the liberation of Bangladesh. A brutal conflict follows pittng West against East, turning neighbours against each other, dividing friends and families and igniting war between India and Pakistan. Two young men find themselves caught up in the tumultuous events of that year on opposite sides of the war. One is battling to preserve the unity of Pakistan, the other is fighting for an independent Bangladesh. Their paths cross in unpredictable ways in the chaos of war. As at first one side and then the other side gains the upper hand; at critical moments each man would hold the other’s life in his hands. What would they do? And what are the consequences of the choices they make?

"Dazzling in scale, diversity and detail, the world never ceases to open our eyes and captivate our curiosity. Ever since the earliest cave paintings, humans have looked at this Earth that is our home and endeavored to understand it. This expansive visual atlas presents the most exciting, creative and inspiring ways of explaining the world in information graphics. Divided into five chapters, the book covers the environment, technology, economics, society, and culture to reveal some of the Earth's greatest intricacies in accessible visual form. Featuring more than 280 graphics, reproduced in large scale including seven fold-out spreads, the collection focuses on the 21st century, but also includes historical masterpieces to put our current situation into perspective. Nigel Holmes introduces the book with an exclusive infographic of his own, while Sandra Rendgen provides an illustrated historical essay to explore how we have studied and interpreted our world over the centuries. With graphics drawn from such sources as Fortune, National Geographic, and The Guardian, this is not only a showcase of outstanding data design, but also a fascinating digest of where and how we live.

War is an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history. We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power. With unrivalled, inside-the-room reporting, Woodward shows President Biden’s approach to managing the war in Ukraine, the most significant land war in Europe since World War II, and his tortured path to contain the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexity and consequence of wartime back-channel diplomacy and decision-making to deter the use of nuclear weapons and a rapid slide into World War III. The raw cage-fight of politics accelerates as Americans prepare to vote in 2024, starting between President Biden and Trump, and ending with the unexpected elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate. Woodward’s reporting once again sets the standard for journalism at its most authoritative and illuminating.