Description
Title: Chequered Past, Uncertain Future: The History of Pakistan
Author: KAMRAN TAHIR
Format: HARDCOVER
Publication date: 01/11/2024
Imprint: REAKTION
Price: $60.00
Publishing status: Active
This book takes us on a sweeping journey through the ebbs and flows of Pakistan’s history, from the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation to contemporary times. The book uncovers influences from Turkey, Persia, Arabia and Britain that have shaped Pakistan, as well as showcasing the region’s diverse, rich tapestry of peoples, and its pluralistic, multicultural society. The book also describes the post-1947 shift following the partition of India and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to become more religiously conservative and autocratic, intensifying sectarian and ethnic divisions. For most of its history, the people of Pakistan have found themselves under the control of military dictators who suppressed civil liberties and freedom of speech and action a trend that continues to persist today.
Review: \”Pakistan’s history is one of many twists and turns. It is a history of a new country, shaped by distinctively modern, nineteenth- and twentieth-century political trends, yet one also of great historical depth and considerable cultural diversity. As Kamran shows in this important new book, Pakistan’s story illustrates the contradictions between considerable internal cultural dynamism and persistent structures of neocolonial dependence, reflected in the political domination, through many political changes and upheavals, of interlocked bureaucratic, landed and military elites. Chequered Past, Uncertain Future is a sweeping history that examines the most recent crises shaping Pakistan’s political landscape.\”–David Gilmartin, distinguished professor of history, North Carolina State University, and author of \”Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern History\”
Contents: Introduction by Ian Talbot 1 From Pre-Historic to the Early Modern Era: 3800 bc to ad 1707 2 The British Rule and the Rise of Muslim Nationalism 3 Bloodied Partition and Punjab’s Bifurcation: 1947 4 Multiple Challenges, Limited Options: Making sense of the Early Problems 5 Faltering Years of a Nascent State, 1947-58 6 Praetorianism Unbound (Ayub Khan’s Rule), 1958-69 7 Praetorianism Under Gen. Yahya Khan and East Pakistan’s Separation, 1969-71 8 The Era of Populism: Zulfi Bhutto, 1971-7 9 Piety and Praetorianism: General Zia ul Haq’s Reign, 1977-88 10 The Rule of Troika and the Onset of ‘Establishmentarian Democracy’, 1988-99 11 Pervez Musharraf: An Autocrat Re-Engineering Politics, 1999-2008 12 A Decade of Uncertainty: 2008-18 13 Imran Khan Assumes Charge 14 Regime Change and a Year of Uncertainty Epilogue References Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index
Author Biography:
Tahir Kamran is head of the Department of the Liberal Arts at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, director of the Khaldunia Centre for Historical Research, and the editor of the Pakistan Journal of Historical Studies. His books include Colonial Lahore: A History of the City and Beyond.
ISBN: 9781789149135
Edition: 01