A fascinating look at Pakistan’s past, an inside account of its recent history, and a knowledgeable assessment of its future options

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Bennett Jones’ market-leading account of this critical modern state includes fresh material on the Taliban insurgency, the Musharraf years, the return and subsequent assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and the unlikely election as president of Asif Ali Zardari.

Praise for the first edition

The world has a stake in what happens in Pakistan. How great a stake, this book makes compellingly clear. -Robert M. Hathaway, Wilson Quarterly

[A] lucid and sobering examination… . Owen Bennett Jones has delivered a well-crafted, clear, balanced and often quite lively account that should be immensely useful. -Thomas W. Lippman, Washington Post Book World

Owen Bennett Jones was BBC correspondent in Pakistan and is now correspondent in Asia for the BBC World Service. He has written for the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Independent, the London Review of Books, and Prospect magazine.