Reviews for Encyclopedia of the Great Depression

The average rating for Encyclopedia of the Great Depression based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-05 00:00:00 Jack Shivers, Jr. This young American risked his life exploring Pakistan (and Bangladesh). Some time ago a French magazine had a searing headline labeling Pakistan as the 'most dangerous country on the planet'. Mr. Schmidle does not disprove this. Beyond a doubt (as other books have also done) Mr. Schmidle demonstrates that the Taliban use the North West Frontier province as their fiefdom - this with the active support of Pakistan's ISI. This double game of supporting radical Islamists is starting to catch up with the Pakistani government itself as it becomes the target of these extremists. The Pakistani government is being encroached upon more and more - witness for instance the seizure of the Red mosque in Islamabad, the capital city. Pakistan appears to contain several competing states within it. Balochistan has its own independence movement. As mentioned the FATA areas are administered in some areas by Taliban proxy governments and the Pakistani army ventures there only sporadically. The author describes riots in Karachi where the police were unable to intervene against armed groups Radical Islam permeates the entire country - the government is compromising itself by constantly seeking accommodation with it. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh started as secular states (Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan in 1971). Hinduism is barely tolerated in Bangladesh. Unfortunately the secularists are the upper classes and do not have the power or numbers to effectively deal with Islamists. I also imagine many of them are choosing to leave. It is an exciting but also a sad book because Pakistan is obviously disintegrating and where this will lead is anyone's guess. Most of the interviews conducted by Mr. Schmidle were with men - Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. The author was 'forced' to leave by cryptic messages from mysterious government agencies. It almost seems that Pakistan is as far removed from Western democratic values (and human rights) as can be imagined.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-06-01 00:00:00 Toby Farmer Absolutely fascinating book about a fascinating experience.