The Nine Lives of Pakistan

Dispatches from a Precarious State

By: Declan Walsh

Narrated by: Roger Clark

Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times's most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals.

On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis - a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these "nine lives" he describes a country on the brink - a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes.

Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh's abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan's powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.

©2020 Declan Walsh (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Excellent book, needs better pronounciation

Amazing book, so well written. Declan Walsh had unimaginable access and he’s written an excellent account. From the goings on of the tribes of the north to what happens in social gatherings of the elite in Karachi. Compulsory reading for anyone who wants to understand the region. Never read a better account of Jinnah and his description of Karachi is on point! The narrator’s English makes for great listening, but he needs to pronounce local words better. Very ironic no one organised a pronunciation guide for the man. Gets jarring after a while. Just an example, he calls Quetta “keta” throughout. One of many mispronounced words.