12.03.07

Pakistan’s Conspicuously Short Shrift by the UW Bookstore

Posted in What I'm Reading, Books at 11:53 pm by Spencer

[Please scroll down for an update to this post.]

What with Pakistan very much in the news of late, and given its simultaneously pivotal and unnerving centrality as a front and staging ground for the vaunted War on Terror™, and considering that its own intelligence service (the ISI) played a thoroughly formative role in the creation of the Taliban state in Afghanistan, and in view of the increasingly restive and violent activities of the very same elements within Pakistan proper, let alone the fascinating but utterly hair-raising shifts in power there — all of which (and more) being a source of enormous concern — I’ve been trying to patch the gaping, neglectful hole in my book-learnin’ about Pakistan.

My current point of entry is Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002) by Mary Anne Weaver, who has served as foreign correspondent for The New Yorker. So far, it’s serving me well as my entrepôt — Weaver has history in the region, covering it during the anti-Soviet jihad in the ’80s, when she managed to gain access to areas and personages that normally segregate themselves from the outside world (let alone an American woman). And her writing style is very New Yorker: intelligent yet digestible and with enough heft to nourish. Just the thing (for me at least) to get a sense of the ley of the land and the names and events to burrow deeper into.

And so, reading Weaver’s book on a particuarly soggy Seattle bus ride home this evening, I got a hair up it to find more about Pakistan, and about the ISI in particular. So upon disembarking from my semi-amphibious public conveyance, I bee-lined for the nearby and normally trusty University Bookstore.

After a thorough census of the Middle East, Asia, General History, Terrorism, and even US History shelves, I was shocked to find that the U Bookstore had only three, maybe four-and-a-half books about Pakistan. Period.

One volume was a used 2001 edition of Soldiers of God by Robert D. Kaplan, a book originally published in 1990 and who’s focus is squarely on the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan — so I’m counting that as the “half”. The rest of the books I found were stashed, of all places, amongst the fairly voluminous India sub-section in the Asia shelves — two dealt with Kashmir, and one of those was purportedly a “reworked” diary of an Indian found in a destroyed home and edited by an Indian. The second, from what I gleaned (perhaps erroneously) from the cover blurbage, was written by an author with political leanings toward India. Fair enough — but where was the rejoinder?

There was also a general history of Pakistan (about 300 pages, academic) and a very thin volume of perhaps 175 pages focused on Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan. I guess I should mention there were also two books about the muslim Mughal Empire period in India, but that is (to westerners, at least) fairly ancient history spanning roughly 1526 to 1712…and more’s to the point that is not Pakistan per se.

Oh wait, I am remiss: in the Afghanistan sub-section of the Asia shelves there were also several copies of George Crile’s lauded Charlie Wilson’s War, a worthwhile but thoroughly Amero-centric history of the US-sponsored “covert” war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. So okay, arguably five- or six-and-a-half books about Pakistan.

And that was it. Pakistan did not even rate its own sub-section in any of the traditional “continental divides”. Then again, and truly in all fairness, there are many significant nations that do not have their own sub-sections — including Iran, books about which are scattered amidst the Middle East section according to author’s last name (and right fair enough). But call me overly delicate, I was stunned that what little there was about Pakistan was mainly (and haphazardly) commingled with the books about India. I’m a honky from frikkin’ Indiana, fer cryin’ out loud, but even I found that fairly insulting. Think about it: they’ve been separate countries for 60 years now. That’s longer than the existence of the modern border between North and South Korea, and except for Kashmir (granted: non-trivial) the borders of Pakistan and India are long settled.

I am dismayed, baffled, and actually kinda ticked off. This short shrift is despite the fact that US history has been complexly entangled with Pakistan practically since its creation in 1947 during the collapse of the British Empire following World War II, and not least its pivotal role throughout the entire Cold War, when the US had tense relations with what was seen as an India that was far too friendly with the heretical Non-Aligned Nations and even the great “main enemy”, the Soviet Union. This is also despite Pakistan’s aforementioned central role in the anti-Soviet jihad, let alone all of the events since September 11, 2001, and not to mention everything I, er, mentioned in my opening paragraph.

Yeah okay, you’ve got a point, dear reader. I’m worked up over frikkin’ bookshelf space, of all things. But my ire is not motivated by namby-pamby, PC, pink diaper hand-wringing. It is purely academic, in the best sense of the term. Given the widespread ignorance — my own definitely included — about a country with a nuclear arsenal serving as a (let’s face it) duplicitous, contentious, and increasingly tenuous bulwark against the Modern Caliphate and with such a complicated history…the bookstore of a major institution of learning with a strong tradition of international scholarship offers four or maybe six semi-irrelevant books, primarily from the viewpoint of its staunchest rival or only tangentially-related, scattered slip-shod hither and yon? Seriously?? I guess I might not be quite so disappointed if the same bookstore didn’t normally do a much better job of it. But all the same, I find it rather shocking.

Now imagine what it must be like in Kansas.

Update: Reply from the UW Book Store

On a dark day for Pakistan, during which Benazir Bhutto was brutally assassinated, I’m at least pleased to report that in recent days I received a lengthy and thoughtful reply from Mark Mouser, the manager of University Books, to an email I sent summarizing (politely) my concerns above. I take the liberty of reproducing below his email to me, since it is a de facto reply to this post.

I’d also like to point out that I recently purchased, at the University Book Store, Hussain Haqqani’s Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005). In it Haqqani, a native Pakistani who has served as advisor to three prime ministers (including the tragically now-late Ms. Bhutto), examines the nation’s history with a particular emphasis on the intersecting relationships between Pakistan’s military and Islamist groups. I’ve only just started it, but so far I’d recommend it.

Following is Mr. Mouser’s reply:

Hello Spencer,

First, thanks very much for taking the time to write. It’s clear from your email that you care about the store and we appreciate that very much. I apologize that it has taken me awhile to get back to you regarding your email. The holiday season is full upon us and I wanted to look at a few things before I responded.

You raise some very good points. Regarding the filing, the subsection of Asian History & Politics where Pakistan titles are found was created for the region of South Asia (we’ve never called it the India section). It was a geographic call many years ago to shelve both Pakistan and India in South Asia. In publishing there has always been much topical combining of the two countries, be it an examination of their historical past, current security issues, or even cooking, textiles, or wildlife- for that reason alone it made sense to put them together. Of the handful of new trade Pakistan titles published this year, two contained “India and Pakistan” in their titles. However, when I look at the section now, I agree with you that in reality it is definitely an “India” section with a few Pakistan books scattered through. We will take a look at that after the holidays to see what we can do.

You are correct that we have very few titles on Pakistan. I was surprised also because we are very aggressive in buying new trade academic titles in the social sciences (look at the number of titles on India). I’ve found that there simply aren’t very many being published, especially with a price point remotely approaching affordability and with a discount for bookstores that would allow us to carry them. Oxford probably publishes more than anyone else on Pakistan, but they do most of them as short discount titles. As far as I can tell, our buyers ordered those that we were able to. One of the most recent books on Pakistan, Adrian Levy’s “The Deception”, was a hosted author event at our store in October.

When I researched our inventory database I found a number of Pakistan titles with a store record but zero in stock. These titles had been switched to “clearance” status by our buyer because they had not sold and in fact had been kept on the shelf too long for them to be returned to the publisher. That means we kept the titles on the shelf for at least 12 to 24 months without a sale. When they were marked down they made their way to tables in the lobby and were eventually sold there at 50% to 90% off list. At that price they sold.

Reinforcing the price issue is the fact that when we are able to get our hands on used books dealing with Pakistan, they sell. I promise that we will keep our eyes out for new and used books dealing with Pakistan (if you know anyone with books to sell please send them our way). We will also double check to see if there are recent titles that we missed. And seriously: if you have any title suggestions please send them my way — they are always welcome. We’re not perfect and even important backlist titles inadvertently get dropped.

And thank you for being a customer all these years. I’ve been at the store many years so we probably would recognize each other’s faces.

Thanks again and best wishes,
Mark

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