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Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders
By Li Juan. 2021
"Deeply moving...full of humor, introspection and glimpses into a vanishing lifestyle." --The New York Times Book ReviewWinner of the People's…
Literature Award, WINTER PASTURE has been a bestselling book in China for several years. Li Juan has been widely lauded in the international literary community for her unique contribution to the narrative non-fiction genre. WINTER PASTURE is her crowning achievement, shattering the boundaries between nature writing and personal memoir.Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter. The so-called "winter pasture" occurs in a remote region that stretches from the Ulungur River to the Heavenly Mountains. As she journeys across the vast, seemingly endless sand dunes, she helps herd sheep, rides horses, chases after camels, builds an underground home using manure, gathers snow for water, and more. With a keen eye for the understated elegance of the natural world, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, Li vividly captures both the extraordinary hardships and the ordinary preoccupations of the day-to-day of the men and women struggling to get by in this desolate landscape. Her companions include Cuma, the often drunk but mostly responsible father; his teenage daughter, Kama, who feels the burden of the world on her shoulders and dreams of going to college; his reticent wife, a paragon of decorum against all odds, who is simply known as "sister-in-law."In bringing this faraway world to English language readers here for the first time, Li creates an intimate bond with the rugged people, the remote places and the nomadic lifestyle. In the signature style that made her an international sensation, Li Juan transcends the travel memoir genre to deliver an indelible and immersive reading experience on every page.
Mongolian Chronicles: A Story of Eagles, Demons, and Empires
By Allen Smutylo. 2019
Longlisted, RBC Taylor PrizeIn the shadows of the Altai Mountains live the Kazakh nomads of western Mongolia. These hard-living nomads…
survive on windswept steppes, grazing their herds and keeping an ancient practice alive: hunting not with traps or guns, but on horseback with golden eagles.The Mongolian Chronicles recounts a story of this untamed world, seen through the eyes of artist, writer, and traveller Allen Smutylo. Smutylo lived with seven eagle hunters and their families for several weeks over two years, affording him rare insight into a disappearing culture. His extraordinary narrative is set within the context of Mongolia's turbulent past — the long shadow cast by the empire of Genghis Khan, the deprivations of early twentieth century warlords-cum-mystics — and its protean present, where ancient customs and shamanistic beliefs exist among an increasingly urbanized people.Smutylo's vivid prose and powerful artwork portray a Mongolia of contradictions and extremes. Readers will encounter a country with a vast wilderness that nonetheless has one of the most polluted capitals on earth; a modern economy in which tent-dwelling nomads still rely on their animals for survival; a people unchanged for millennia, yet recognizing that their way of life may disappear with their generation.
Thailandia: Volume 3 (Thailand #17)
By Owen Jones. 2021
Thailandia Volume 3 Spero che troverete il contenuto utile e redditizio. Le informazioni contenute in questo ebook sui vari aspetti…
della Thailandia e della vita in Thailandia sono organizzate in 15 capitoli di circa 500-600 parole ciascuno. Spero che possa interessare sia chi ha visitato la Thailandia, oppure se conoscete qualcuno che l'ha fatto o che intenda farlo, perché gli articoli contengono le esperienze personali di 14 anni di permanenza dell'autore in Thailandia. Come bonus aggiuntivo, vi concedo il permesso di utilizzare i contenuti sul vostro sito web o nei vostri blog e newsletter, anche se è meglio se prima li riscriviate con parole vostre. Potete anche dividere il libro e rivendere gli articoli. In realtà, l'unico diritto che non avete è quello di rivendere o regalare il libro così come vi è stato consegnato.
While I Was Away
By Waka T. Brown. 2021
The Farewell meets Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly in this empowering middle grade memoir from debut author Waka T. Brown,…
who takes readers on a journey to 1980s Japan, where she was sent as a child to reconnect to her family’s roots. When twelve-year-old Waka’s parents suspect she can’t understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime. In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and writing in kanji, doesn’t quite mesh with her complicated and distant Obaasama, and gets made fun of by the students in her Japanese public-school classes. Even though this is the country her parents came from, Waka has never felt more like an outsider. If she’s always been the “smart Japanese girl” in America but is now the “dumb foreigner” in Japan, where is home...and who will Waka be when she finds it?
The Silk Road: Taking the Bus to Pakistan
By Bill Porter. 2016
To travel upon the Silk Road is to travel through history. Millennia older than California's Camino Real, and perhaps even…
a few years senior to the roads of the Roman Empire, the Silk Road is a network of routes stretching from delta towns of China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea - a cultural highway considered to be essential to the development of some of the world's oldest civilizations. It was upon this road that that Chinese silk traveled and was exchanged for incense, precious stones, and gold from India, the Middle East and as far the Mediterranean, contributing to the great tradition of commercial and idea exchange along the way.In the fall of 1992, celebrated translator, writer, and scholar Bill Porter left his home in Hong Kong and decided to travel from China to Pakistan by way of this famous and often treacherous Silk Road. Equipped with a plastic bottle of whiskey, needle-nose pliers, and the companionship of an old friend, Porter embarks upon the journey on the anniversary of Hong Kong's liberation from the Japanese after World War II and concludes in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, at the end of the monsoon season. Weaving witty travel anecdotes with the history and fantastical mythology of China and the surrounding regions, Porter exposes a world of card-sharks, unheard-of ethnic minorities, terracotta soldiers, nuclear experiments in the desert, emperors falling in love with bathing maidens, monks with miracle tongues, and a giant Buddha relaxing to music played by an invisible band.The Silk Road is the second of a three-book memoir series about Porter's travels in and around China to be published by Counterpoint. With an eye for cultural idiosyncrasies and a vast knowledge of history, Porter continues to make with his mark as an expert and travel writer.
South of the Yangtze: Travels Through the Heart of China
By Bill Porter. 2016
Chinese civilization first developed 5,000 years ago in North China along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.…
And the Yellow River remained the center of Chinese civilization for the next 4,000 years. Then a thousand years ago, this changed. A thousand years ago, the center of Chinese civilization moved to the Yangtze. And the Yangtze, not the Yellow River, has remained the center of its civilization. A thousand years ago, the Chinese came up with a name for this new center of its civilization. They called it Chiangnan, meaning "South of the River," the river in question, of course, being the Yangtze. The Chinese still call this region Chiangnan. Nowadays it includes the northern parts of Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces and the southern parts of Anhui and Kiangsu. And some would even add the northern part of Hunan. But it's not just a region on the map. It's a region in the Chinese spirit. It's hard to put it into words. Ask a dozen Chinese what "Chiangnan" means, and they'll give you a dozen different answers. For some the word conjures forests of pine and bamboo. For others, they envision hillsides of tea, or terraces of rice, or lakes of lotuses and fish. Or they might imagine Zen monasteries, or Taoist temples, or artfully-constructed gardens, or mist-shrouded peaks. Oddly enough, no one ever mentions the region's cities, which include some of the largest in the world. Somehow, whatever else it might mean to people, Chiangnan means a landscape, a landscape and a culture defined by mist, a landscape and a culture that lacks the harder edges of the arid North.In the Fall of 1991, Bill Porter decided to travel through this vaporous land, following the old post roads that still connected its administrative centers and scenic wonders, its most famous hometowns and graves, its factories and breweries, its dreamlike memories and its mist, and he was joined on this journey by his poet and photographer friends, Finn Wilcox and Steve Johnson. South of the Yangtze is a record in words and black and white images of their trip.
South of the Clouds: Travels in Southwest China
By Bill Porter. 2015
While flipping through the atlas of Chang Ch'i-yun, one of China's most famous geographers, distinguished translator Bill Porter (Red Pine)…
developed a curiosity about the southwestern province of China. Dubbed Yun-nan, "South of the Clouds," this was the last area modern China to come under Chinese control. Originally conquered by the Mongols and eventually introduced to foreigners as a vibrant setting for trade, Yun-nan became a critical crossroad connecting East and West. In 1992, Porter left his home in Hong Kong to tour the small towns and major cities of Yun-nan, studying each of their local cultures and larger impacts on the trajectory of Chinese history. Here, he shares his encyclopedic knowledge of the nation's beautiful legacy while introducing new insight about the province's landscapes, people, and recent state of affairs. He visited Bulang Mountain, where the local people had no written language of their own, so they sent their children to live as monks in nearby Tai temples to learn Tai script. He saw women in Lijiang who wore traditional sheepskin jackets that bore seven frogeyes without clear explanation. In Dali, a small town turned urban center, he recalls a massive museum built to show off the city's new wealth, only to have half of its halls left empty and unvisited.The first of a series of three China travel memoirs to be published by Soft Skull, Bill Porter's book tells the incredible story of a spread of land with a thousand years of human history. His remarkable insight and unparalleled understanding of China place this book at the forefront of East Asian travel literature.
China Underground
By Zachary Mexico. 2009
At the beginning of the 21st century, it is hard to imagine a place more exciting than China. Westerners hear…
much about China's role as the next "global superpower," but they know less about the young people who make up China's varied and fascinating subcultures.Drawn by the streets humming with the energy of constant change, Zachary Mexico, who had spent two years in China, returned there in the summer of 2006 to conduct formal research on how the changing environment has affected the Chinese of his generation. Readers are introduced to a wannabe rock star from the desert of Xinjiang, trying to make it big in Shanghai; a disillusioned journalist; a budding screenwriter; a vagabond ladies' man; a straight-A student at China's best university; a Chinese mafia kingpin; a punk band trying their best to stay relevant; a prostitute; the world's most polluted city; Beijing's drug-fueled club scene; and many others.This is an engaging firsthand account of a young American writer's encounter with the new China and the young people who are pursuing their future there. China Underground tells their stories, and some of Mexico's own.
Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
By Kate Harris. 2019
NATIONAL BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE RBC TAYLOR PRIZEWINNER OF THE EDNA STAEBLER AWARD FOR CREATIVE NON-FICTION"Every day on a bike trip…
is like the one before--but it is also completely different, or perhaps you are different, woken up in new ways by the mile."As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she most craved--that of a generalist explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and philosopher--had gone extinct. From her small-town home in Ontario, it seemed as if Marco Polo, Magellan and their like had long ago mapped the whole earth. So she vowed to become a scientist and go to Mars. To pass the time before she could launch into outer space, Kate set off by bicycle down a short section of the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel Yule, then settled down to study at Oxford and MIT. Eventually the truth dawned on her: an explorer, in any day and age, is by definition the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. And Harris had soared most fully out of bounds right here on Earth, travelling a bygone trading route on her bicycle. So she quit the laboratory and hit the Silk Road again with Mel, this time determined to bike it from the beginning to end. Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer before her, Kate Harris offers a travel narrative at once exuberant and meditative, wry and rapturous. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of a world that, like the self and like the stars, can never be fully mapped.
Wild by Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone in the Wilderness on Foot
By Sarah Marquis, Stephanie Hellert. 2014
One woman 10,000 miles on foot 6 countries 8 pairs of hiking boots 3,000 cups of tea 1,000 days and…
nights "The only way to survive three years of walking was to embrace the moment of now."--from Wild by Nature Not since Cheryl Strayed gifted us with her adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail in her memoir, Wild, has there been such a powerful epic adventure by a woman alone. In Wild by Nature, National Geographic Explorer Sarah Marquis takes you on the trail of her ten-thousand-mile solo hike across the remote Gobi desert from Siberia to Thailand, at which point she was transported by boat to complete the hike at her favorite tree in Australia. Against nearly insurmountable odds and relying on hunting and her own wits, Sarah Marquis survived the Mafia, drug dealers, thieves on horseback who harassed her tent every night for weeks, temperatures from subzero to scorching, life-threatening wildlife, a dengue fever delirium in the Laos jungle, tropic ringworm in northern Thailand, dehydration, and a life-threatening abscess. This is an incredible story of adventure, human ingenuity, persistence, and resilience that shows firsthand what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild, and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. For Marquis, her story is about freedom, being alive and wild by nature.
Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku
By Natalie Goldberg. 2020
One of the world&’s foremost writing teachers invites readers on a joyful journey into the reading and origins of haiku…
A haiku is three simple lines. But it is also, as Allen Ginsberg put it, three lines that &“make the mind leap.&” A good one, he said, lets the mind experience &“a small sensation of space which is nothing less than God.&” As many spiritual practices seek to do, the haiku&’s spare yet acute noticing of the immediate and often ordinary grounds the reader in the pure awareness of now. Natalie Goldberg is a delightfully companionable tour guide into this world. She highlights the history of the form, dating back to the seventeenth century; shows why masters such as Basho and Issa are so revered; discovers Chiyo-ni, an important woman haiku master; and provides insight into writing and reading haiku. A fellow seeker who travels to Japan to explore the birthplace of haiku, Goldberg revels in everything she encounters, including food and family, painting and fashion, frogs and ponds. She also experiences and allows readers to share in the spontaneous and profound moments of enlightenment and awakening that haiku promises.
The Lisu: Far from the Ruler
By Michele Zack. 2017
This book brings the ironic worldview of the Lisu to life through vivid, often amusing accounts of individuals, communities, regions, and…
practices. One of the smallest and last groups of stateless people, and the most egalitarian of all Southeast Asian highland minorities, the Lisu have not only survived extremes at the crossroads of civil wars, the drug trade, and state-sponsored oppression but adapted to modern politics and technology without losing their identity. The Lisu weaves a lively narrative that condenses humanity’s transition from border-free tribal groupings into today’s nation-states and global market economy. Journalist and historian Michele Zack first encountered the Lisu in the 1980s and conducted research and fieldwork among them in the 1990s. In 2014 she again traveled extensively in tribal areas of Thailand, Myanmar, and China, when she documented the transformative changes of globalization. Some Lisu have adopted successful new urban occupations in business and politics, while most continue to live as agriculturists “far from the ruler.” The cohesiveness of Lisu culture has always been mysterious—they reject hierarchical political organization and traditionally had no writing system—yet their culture provides a particular skillset that has helped them navigate the terrain of the different religious and political systems they have recently joined. They’ve made the transition from living in lawless, self-governing highland peripheries to becoming residents and citizens of nation-states in a single generation. Ambitious and written with journalist’s eye for detail and storytelling, The Lisu introduces the unique and fascinating culture of this small Southeast Asian minority. Their path to national and global citizenship illustrates the trade-offs all modern people have made, and their egalitarian culture provides insight into current political choices in a world turning toward authoritarianism.
Thailandia: Volume 2 (Come fare... #96)
By Owen Jones. 2020
Thailandia Volume 2 Questo è il secondo volume che riguarda la mia personale esperienza della vita in Thailandia. Spero che…
troverete il contenuto utile e redditizio. Le informazioni contenute in questo ebook sui vari aspetti della Thailandia e la vita in Thailandia sono organizzate in 15 capitoli di circa 500-600 parole ciascuno. Spero che questo libro possa interessare sia a chi ha visitato la Thailandia, sia a chi intenda farlo. Come bonus aggiuntivo, vi concedo il permesso di utilizzare i contenuti sul vostro sito web o nei vostri blog e newsletter, anche se è meglio che prima li riscriviate con le vostre parole. Potete anche dividere il libro e rivendere gli articoli. Infatti, l'unico diritto che non avete è quello di rivendere o cedere il libro così come vi è stato consegnato.
Tailândia: Volume Dois (Como se faz... #96)
By Owen Jones. 2020
Tailândia Olá e Obrigado por comprar este e-book chamado Tailândia - Volume 2. Espero que o conteúdo seja útil, te…
ajude e seja rentável para você. A informação contida neste livro digital sobre vários aspectos da Tailândia e da vida na Tailândia está organizado em 15 capítulos que contém ao redor de 500-600 palavras cada um. Espero que seja interessante para aqueles que visitaram a Tailândia ou pensam em visita-la. Como um bônus, eu lhes garanto permissão para usar o conteúdo no seu próprio website ou em seu próprio blog e newsletter, apesar de que creio que é melhor que você reescreva em suas próprias palavras antes. Você também pode dividir o livro em partes e revender os artigos. Em realidade, o único que não está permitido é revender ou doar o livro porque ele foi enviado para você. Se você tem algum comentário ou sugestão, por favor, deixe-o na empresa onde você comprou este exemplar. Obrigado mais uma vez por comprar este livro digital, Saudações, Owen Jones
Japanese Tourists: Socio-Economic, Marketing, and Psychological Analysis
By K. S. Kaye Chon. 2001
Find out how to entertain all types of Japanese tourists from student groups to retirees!Would a Japanese traveler rather see…
pictures of beautiful landscapes or smiling Japanese couples in a tourist brochure? Will you attract more Japanese tour groups by promising them independence and adventure or excellent food? Given the importance of Japanese tourists to the global travel industry, understanding their travel-related behavior has become an essential item in the tourism research agenda. Japanese Tourists: Socio-Economic, Marketing, and Psychological Analysis investigates the specific needs, behaviors, and desires of this growing segment of the international tourism market.Japanese tourists spend billions of dollars abroad every year, and travel destinations as far apart as Australia and Manhattan compete fiercely for their custom. By taking cultural traits into account, travel industry professionals can better understand exactly what kinds of amenities, accommodations, service, and total experience Japanese travelers are looking for. This volume of original research and well-grounded theory elucidates the specific factors that go into Japanese travel and buying decisions, whether the travelers are Japanese ”office ladies” seeking bargains in Hong Kong or a group of senior citizens hoping to see the Northern Lights.Japanese Tourists: Socio-Economic, Marketing, and Psychological Analysis discusses a full range of issues crucial to attracting Japanese tourism, including:how stage of life affects travel behavior why Japanese people book overseas weddings and group honeymoon tours whether legalized gambling would increase or discourage Japanese tourism in Hawaii how issues of perceived safety affect choice of travel destinations what souvenirs mean in Japanese culture which travel images are most likely to attract Japanese tourists what sources of information Japanese travelers use to help them select destinationsJapanese Tourists offers the most up-to-date international studies on the socioeconomic, marketing, and psychological factors affecting Japanese people traveling abroad. This volume is an invaluable resource for travel professionals seeking to break into the tough but lucrative Japanese outbound-tourism market.
The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City
By Anna Sherman. 2019
An elegant and absorbing tour of Tokyo and its residentsFrom 1632 until 1854, Japan’s rulers restricted contact with foreign countries,…
a near isolation that fostered a remarkable and unique culture that endures to this day. In hypnotic prose and sensual detail, Anna Sherman describes searching for the great bells by which the inhabitants of Edo, later called Tokyo, kept the hours in the shoguns’ city.An exploration of Tokyo becomes a meditation not just on time, but on history, memory, and impermanence. Through Sherman’s journeys around the city and her friendship with the owner of a small, exquisite cafe, who elevates the making and drinking of coffee to an art-form, The Bells of Old Tokyo follows haunting voices through the labyrinth that is the Japanese capital: an old woman remembers escaping from the American firebombs of World War II. A scientist builds the most accurate clock in the world, a clock that will not lose a second in five billion years. The head of the Tokugawa shogunal house reflects on the destruction of his grandfathers’ city: “A lost thing is lost. To chase it leads to darkness.”The Bells of Old Tokyo marks the arrival of a dazzling new writer who presents an absorbing and alluring meditation on life in the guise of a tour through a city and its people.
Who Was Confucius? (Who Was?)
By Michael Burgan, Who Hq. 2020
Learn more about China's most famous teacher and philosopher, whose ideas are still influential today.Born in 551 BC, Confucius was…
a young man when he set his heart and mind on learning as much as he could. By his thirties, he'd become a brilliant teacher who shared his knowledge of several subjects, including arithmetic, history, and poetry, with his students. Confucius wanted to make sure that everyone in China had access to an education and devoted his whole life to learning and teaching so he could transform and improve society. His lessons--now known as Confucianism--are practiced by over six million people in the world. They focus on loving humanity, worshiping ancestors, respecting elders, and self-discipline. Confucianism has become the system that governs a total way of life in East Asia.
Tailandia: Volumen Tres (Cómo hacer… #17)
By Owen Jones. 2020
Espero que encuentre el contenido provechoso, útil y rentable. La información en este libro electrónico trata sobre varios aspectos de…
Tailandia y la vida en Tailandia, este libro está organizado en 15 capítulos de aproximadamente 500 a 600 palabras cada uno. Espero que sea de interés para quienes hayan visitado Tailandia o tengan la intención de hacerlo. Como beneficio adicional, les otorgo permiso para usar el contenido en sus propios sitios web o en sus propios blogs y boletines informativos, aunque es mejor si los reescriben primero con sus propias palabras. También puedes dividir el libro y revender los artículos. De hecho, el único derecho que no tienes es revender o regalar el libro tal como se te entregó.
Winds of the Steppe: Walking the Great Silk Road from Central Asia to China
By Bernard Ollivier. 2003
Bernard Ollivier pushes onward in his attempt to become the first person to walk the entire length of the Great…
Silk Road. &“A gripping account. More than just a travel story—this is a quest for the Other.&”—Alexis Liebaert, L&’Événement Picking up where Walking to Samarkand left off, Winds of the Steppe continues the astonishing tale of journalist Bernard Ollivier&’s 7,200-mile walk from Turkey to China along the Silk Road, the longest and most mythical trade route of all time. Taking readers from the snows of the Pamir Mountains to the backstreets of Kashgar—a Central Asian city that could be the setting for One Thousand and One Nights—to the Tian Shan Mountains to the endless Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts of China&’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Bernard Ollivier continues his epic foot journey along the Great Silk Road hoping to make his way to Han China and reach, at long last, the legendary city of Xi&’an. After traveling through a region dotted with former Buddhist shrines, Ollivier finds himself craving the warm welcome of Islamic lands, where, regardless of their culture or nationality, travelers are often treated as esteemed guests. Beyond the occasional vestige of the old Silk Road, Ollivier comes face to face with sites of religious significance, China&’s Great Wall, and of course thousands of everyday people along the way. As Ollivier tries to make sense of his journey and find connections between these people&’s daily lives and the so-called &“modern&” world, he does so with a sense of humility that transforms his personal journey into a universal quest.
The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches From A Precarious State
By Declan Walsh. 2020
A New York Times New Book to Watch For (November 2020) The former New York Times Pakistan bureau chief paints…
an arresting, up-close portrait of a fractured country. Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times’s most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis—a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these “nine lives” he describes a country on the brink—a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes. Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh’s abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan’s powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.