Alive and Well in Pakistan: A Human Journey in a Dangerous Time

DescriptionAlive and Well in Pakistan is an engaging and well-informed literary reportage that demystifies the uneasy place that Pakistan occupies in an uncertain world. Drawing on observations from the streets and university classrooms and from personal interviews with lawyers, journalists, politicians, and military personnel, this riveting investigation examines the most compelling aspects of Pakistan’s culture and history. Written by an American journalist living in Pakistan, the issues and struggles of Pakistan and its people as the United States’s war on terror unfolds are addressed. This powerful report offers vivid descriptions of life in Lahore and humanizes the nation’s struggles by delving into every dimension of the Pakistani experience, including domestic politics; ethnic, regional, and sectarian fault lines; anti-Western and anti-Indian sentiments; and the border issues between Kashmir and Afghanistan. An engaging work, the findings connect this volatile nation to its precarious place in the international realm.‘Casey plunges into Pakistan like a knife, unearthing and unravelling the often unexplainable and unpredictable contradictions of a country on the edge. Pakistan just happens to be one of the most complex and difficult countries to describe, but Casey does a magnificent job. Casey’s prose sings, and his portraits are master class. A conjuror of images and sensations in an unpredictable land.’ Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban.Ethan Casey explores what life is like in a Muslim country on the frontline of the US-declared ‘war on terror’ while living, working and teaching in Lahore, Pakistan. Drawing observations from the street, university classrooms and interviews with lawyers, journalists and politicians, Casey updates his understanding of the Pakistani experience and sets it within a context of recent and contemporary history. Revisiting a decade of ground-level reporting, he humanises domestic politics; attitudes towards the West and India; and the Kashmir and Afghanistan issues.‘Ethan Casey documents his travels in Pakistan, reflecting the moods of the historical moment in compelling prose. Like Conrad and Greene before him, he is, I suspect, out to travel dangerously.’ Norman Sherry, author of The Life of Graham Greene.Author BiographyEthan Casey is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the international online periodical BlueEar.com, editor or co-editor of three book-length collections of writings on global current events, notably 09/11 8:48 a.m.: Documenting America’s Greatest Tragedy, and co-author, with Michael Betzold, of Queen of Diamonds: The Tiger Stadium Story (1991). He has reported from Asia, Zimbabwe and Haiti for the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail of Toronto, the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, the Boston Globe and other international publications.