Pakistan

A Very Short Introduction

By: Pippa Virdee

Narrated by: Shakira Shute

What is Pakistan? The name refers to a seventy-year-old post-colonial product of the bloodiest partition of territory and population that accompanied the end of British empire in South Asia. But the region of the Indus Valley has a four-thousand-year-old history, and was the site of one of the earliest and greatest riverine civilizations in the world. Although the modern nation of Pakistan as we know it was created as a homeland for the Muslims of British India, it is impossible to understand the complex tapestry of linguistic, ethnic, and cultural identities and tensions of the region without tracing its deep past.

This Very Short Introduction looks at Pakistan as one of the two nation-states of the Indian subcontinent that emerged in 1947. Pippa Virdee reaches into the ancient past to demonstrate the influence of trajectories of human settlement and civilization on Pakistan's contemporary political arena, and shows how the longer continuities between the land and its peoples are as important as the short-term changes in the political landscape. She considers Pakistan's religion and society, the state and the military, everyday life, popular culture, languages and literature, as well as Pakistan's relationship with the rest of the world. Virdee also looks to the challenges of the twenty-first century and the future of Pakistan.

©2021 Pippa Virdee (P)2022 Tantor

INTERESTING

I absolutely enjoyed listening and reading this book.
I have the printed version also, the material is very concise and the narration is good.
I have several of the “A Very Short Introduction” books, each on a different subject and some of them are also in audio form.
They are all well written and gives you a good overview.
It is a “gateway “ to further study.
My thanks to all involved, JK

Very dry

If you are looking for just a book about the history, then this is for you. Otherwise, it’s just fact after fact as if it were an encyclopedia reading.

Accent

The reader’s accent is a bit difficult to understand. Not an easy reading, not an easy flow.