RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewThe question has confounded many: How does Pakistan stay alive? ... The New York Times foreign correspondent Declan Walsh is the latest to try to answer that question. In his new book, The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches From a Precarious State, he pulls from years of contact with sources on the ground, presenting nine narratives — each given its own chapter — to paint a vivid, complex portrait of a country at a crossroads ... Walsh’s writing is elegant and expressive. It does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader ... Every character is fighting on his or her own front line in some way ... Walsh beautifully braids in brief history lessons, placing each voice in proper context and feeding a richer understanding for readers coming to the region fresh.
