To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan
Posted on February 27, 2010
Product Description
?A fascinating account of [Schmidle?s] years in Pakistan . . . The story of two Pakistans the author discovered: one beautiful and friendly, the other frightening and deadly.??Booklist
Nicholas Schmidle beat the Pakistani army into Taliban country. In October 2007, just weeks before thousands of troops, backed by helicopters and artillery fire, marched into the Swat valley to battle the gang of Talibs who had taken over the region, Schmidle rode into the town of Mingora on a public bus. He drove through Taliban-manned checkpoints and took a zipline into a militant camp. Schmidle had spent the previous two years traveling throughout Pakistan, living off a small fellowship which required only that he stay in the country, learn Urdu, and write about what he witnessed.
Schmidle?s telling of his gripping adventures, aided by his own deep knowledge of Pakistan?s history, explains to readers the many reasons why Pakistan has grabbed the world?s headlines. To Live or to Perish Forever is an eye-opening and exciting read about this essential place.
5 thoughts on “To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan”
I agree with Saleem Ali’s review. Schmidle’s book merits a single star only. The writer comes across as pompous and self-engrossed. I eagerly awaited the release of Schmidle’s book only to be disappointed upon reading it.
Schmidle’s narrative is self-serving and disingenuous. He acts as if he is the center of attention. But he is a gangly white guy in the middle of an Asian country of 170 million.
He also gives the impression that Pakistanis and their state apparatus are out to get him. But the reality is that Schmidle is treated with the utmost hospitality — even by militant Islamists who have killed fellow Pakistanis.
Schmidle compares himself to Daniel Pearl, the slain Wall Street Journal reporter. But instead of being beheaded or kidnapped, Schmidle is offered tea and biscuits by Pakistani militants. Schmidle exaggerates the threat to himself for the purpose of having a sexy narrative. He fails to acknowledge that as a middle class white American, he holds a place of privilege in Pakistan. He is treated like a king. I experienced the same as a white American visiting Pakistan last year.
Dozens of Pakistanis open their homes to him. With this book, he seems to give their country the middle finger.
Schmidle also rushed to write the book. Some of the prose is fluid and inviting. Other aspects are too similar to his previous work. Then there are some passages that seem too encyclopedic.
Rating: 1 / 5
I found this book to be interesting in some of its accounts of Pakistan. He accurately describes the inadequacies of social services in some parts of the country, and its implication. His insightful views into the history of the both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan complement is story. However, his views and research do not wholly represent all of Pakistan. While there are competing ideologies, he rarely notes the strong impact of Islam on the general society. He interviews mainly elite players, some of whom are secular. He discounts the effects of religion and views it as a negative factor in Pakistan’s growth, something that even centrist Pakistani political parties would not dare take into account.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is a very well written book about the many tribes in AFghanistan and the multiple problems facing us.I recommend to everyone
Rating: 5 / 5
Mr. Schmidle has put together an interesting narrative on the expense of using his host country’s hospitality for his own good and gaining immediate attention with a twist of cheap thrills, some of which are out of proportion.
The start distorts the facts. On page 18 he write, “A fight broke out after the death of Prophet Mohammad’s death, in 632, over who should succeed him as leader of the Muslims.” And then on the same page in the subsequent paragraph he writes, “Hussein, set out to avenge his father’s death.” Both these statements are thoroughly incorrect and only written to make the flow of the content better or perhaps develop the reader’s interest, especially those who are not aware of Islamic history. On page 48, last paragraph, about his adventures in the North West Frontier region, in the penultimate sentence of the page he implies that everyone in Pakistan is willing to offer help to Taliban. He is generalizing a specific area’s situation to the rest of the country and its people which is again to malign the mentality of moderate Pakistanis who equally dislike the Taliban and their tactics as any sane person would. Chapter 6 titled “What is Wrong with Pakistan?” is basically all about Bangladesh and one wonders why would he use this title? The author also lies and involuntarily writes it down on page 143, when a police officer asks for his introduction and also asks him whether the book is against Pakistan his reply, “Sir, Pakistan is my home. I live and love it here. Why would I write against it?” And later on the conversation casually dwells on wife and kids. What a glaring example of hypocrisy!
I wish he had mentioned somewhere in this falsely acclaimed thriller that how well foreigners are mostly treated wherever they go. Many locals go out of their way to help and treat them well. Obviously I am not referring to troubled areas where kidnapping and killings are going on. The book and the experiences are nothing more than a trivial example of double standards of a Western journalist who uses this as a jump board, that too on a country’s expense.
Rating: 1 / 5
Schmidle arrives in Pakistan as an uninitiated scholar and embarks on a two-year adventure that takes him throughout the landscape – and history – of this complex country. From teeming Karachi, Baluchistan, Swat, Bangladesh, the capital city of Islamabad, and more, Schmidle meets a lot of the big players in the struggles of modern day Pakistan. He reveals a country – complicated, dangerous, and fragile – that looks to be the battleground for the future of the Muslim world. But one of the several details that makes this such a compelling read is that Schmidle shows us the humanity of Pakistan that gets lost in the news stories, especially in his relationship with Abdul Rashid Ghazi, famed jihadi and inspiration to a new generation of Pakistani jihadis. This is a very good book. The perspective and engaging pace makes this a strongly recommended read to both the novice and expert in the inner-workings of the Pakistani experience.
Rating: 5 / 5
I agree with Saleem Ali’s review. Schmidle’s book merits a single star only. The writer comes across as pompous and self-engrossed. I eagerly awaited the release of Schmidle’s book only to be disappointed upon reading it.
Schmidle’s narrative is self-serving and disingenuous. He acts as if he is the center of attention. But he is a gangly white guy in the middle of an Asian country of 170 million.
He also gives the impression that Pakistanis and their state apparatus are out to get him. But the reality is that Schmidle is treated with the utmost hospitality — even by militant Islamists who have killed fellow Pakistanis.
Schmidle compares himself to Daniel Pearl, the slain Wall Street Journal reporter. But instead of being beheaded or kidnapped, Schmidle is offered tea and biscuits by Pakistani militants. Schmidle exaggerates the threat to himself for the purpose of having a sexy narrative. He fails to acknowledge that as a middle class white American, he holds a place of privilege in Pakistan. He is treated like a king. I experienced the same as a white American visiting Pakistan last year.
Dozens of Pakistanis open their homes to him. With this book, he seems to give their country the middle finger.
Schmidle also rushed to write the book. Some of the prose is fluid and inviting. Other aspects are too similar to his previous work. Then there are some passages that seem too encyclopedic.
Rating: 1 / 5
I found this book to be interesting in some of its accounts of Pakistan. He accurately describes the inadequacies of social services in some parts of the country, and its implication. His insightful views into the history of the both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan complement is story. However, his views and research do not wholly represent all of Pakistan. While there are competing ideologies, he rarely notes the strong impact of Islam on the general society. He interviews mainly elite players, some of whom are secular. He discounts the effects of religion and views it as a negative factor in Pakistan’s growth, something that even centrist Pakistani political parties would not dare take into account.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is a very well written book about the many tribes in AFghanistan and the multiple problems facing us.I recommend to everyone
Rating: 5 / 5
Mr. Schmidle has put together an interesting narrative on the expense of using his host country’s hospitality for his own good and gaining immediate attention with a twist of cheap thrills, some of which are out of proportion.
The start distorts the facts. On page 18 he write, “A fight broke out after the death of Prophet Mohammad’s death, in 632, over who should succeed him as leader of the Muslims.” And then on the same page in the subsequent paragraph he writes, “Hussein, set out to avenge his father’s death.” Both these statements are thoroughly incorrect and only written to make the flow of the content better or perhaps develop the reader’s interest, especially those who are not aware of Islamic history. On page 48, last paragraph, about his adventures in the North West Frontier region, in the penultimate sentence of the page he implies that everyone in Pakistan is willing to offer help to Taliban. He is generalizing a specific area’s situation to the rest of the country and its people which is again to malign the mentality of moderate Pakistanis who equally dislike the Taliban and their tactics as any sane person would. Chapter 6 titled “What is Wrong with Pakistan?” is basically all about Bangladesh and one wonders why would he use this title? The author also lies and involuntarily writes it down on page 143, when a police officer asks for his introduction and also asks him whether the book is against Pakistan his reply, “Sir, Pakistan is my home. I live and love it here. Why would I write against it?” And later on the conversation casually dwells on wife and kids. What a glaring example of hypocrisy!
I wish he had mentioned somewhere in this falsely acclaimed thriller that how well foreigners are mostly treated wherever they go. Many locals go out of their way to help and treat them well. Obviously I am not referring to troubled areas where kidnapping and killings are going on. The book and the experiences are nothing more than a trivial example of double standards of a Western journalist who uses this as a jump board, that too on a country’s expense.
Rating: 1 / 5
Schmidle arrives in Pakistan as an uninitiated scholar and embarks on a two-year adventure that takes him throughout the landscape – and history – of this complex country. From teeming Karachi, Baluchistan, Swat, Bangladesh, the capital city of Islamabad, and more, Schmidle meets a lot of the big players in the struggles of modern day Pakistan. He reveals a country – complicated, dangerous, and fragile – that looks to be the battleground for the future of the Muslim world. But one of the several details that makes this such a compelling read is that Schmidle shows us the humanity of Pakistan that gets lost in the news stories, especially in his relationship with Abdul Rashid Ghazi, famed jihadi and inspiration to a new generation of Pakistani jihadis. This is a very good book. The perspective and engaging pace makes this a strongly recommended read to both the novice and expert in the inner-workings of the Pakistani experience.
Rating: 5 / 5