The Oxford Companion to Pakistani History

by Ayesha Jalal (editor)

Insofar as history is constantly in the process of being reconfigured in the light of new processes and challenges, any companion to the history of Pakistan cannot but be an ongoing, if not obviously an open-ended, enterprise. The historiography of Pakistan has been missing such a
comprehensive survey of not only sixty-four years of the country's existence but also of the movement preceding its creation. Pakistan possesses a rich and varied history considering that it was carved out of the Indian subcontinent, one of the world's oldest civilizations. Hence the prevailing
geographical, religious, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversities and complexities. The Oxford Companion to Pakistani History has attempted to provide the reader with information on a wide a spectrum of subjects as possible.

A wide range of topics have been covered in the volume, from pre-Partition colonial period to post-Partition movements (religious, political, cultural etc.), peoples and places, culture, architecture, politics, military, economics, linguistics, archaeology, judiciary, art, theatre, education,
foreign relations, government, media, philanthropy, civil society and several others. This is the first time that all facets of Pakistani history have been covered in one encyclopedic volume.

The Companion differs from other encyclopedias in the sense that all entries have been written in an analytical, unbiased style and yet paying the keenest attention to factual details. A system of cross-referencing is available through insertion of asterisks within the text linking the entry to
another headword that may appear while reading a particular entry. A subject index along with a few maps are provided at the end of the book. All these steps have been taken to render the Companion as user-friendly as possible.

Genres: Pakistan, History

556 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Ayesha Jalal is a Pakistani-American historian and academic, and the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University. Her work focuses on the military-industrial complex, post-colonial politics, and Muslim identity in South Asia. She is also known for positing in The Sole Spokesman that the Partition of India and Pakistan was less a political necessity than a terrible human tragedy and that the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a pragmatist who was motivated by greater rights for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent than the creation of a separate state.