Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue: 'speak, for your lips are free' -- From minority to nation -- Truncated state, divided nation -- A sprawling military barrack -- Pitfalls of martial rule -- Toward the watershed of 1971 -- The rise and fall of populism -- Martial rule in an Islamic garb -- Democracy restored? -- A geostrategic riddle -- Entangled endgames -- Epilogue: overcoming terror.

In a probing biography of her native land, Ayesha Jalal provides a unique insider's assessment of how the nuclear-armed Muslim nation of Pakistan evolved into a country besieged by military domination and militant religious extremism, and explains why its dilemmas weigh so heavily on prospects for peace in the region.

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