Pakistan - Culture Smart!
Pakistan - Culture Smart!

Author: Safia Haleem

Publisher: Bravo Limited

Published: 2013-05-01

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 185733678X

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Pakistan is a land with a unique history, formed by migrating peoples who have left their footprint in its diverse cultures, languages, literature, food, dress, and folklore. The country is besieged by bad news, but despite the political turmoil the everyday life of its people is more stable, rich, and rewarding than the media headlines would lead you to believe. A myriad local festivals and celebrations and a vibrant cultural life go unremarked. Pakistan has the eighth-largest standing army in the world and is the only Muslim-majority nation to possess nuclear weapons, but few know that it is also the home of two unique schools of art. This complex nation consists of various ethnic groups, each with its own individual cultures and subcultures, but which are unified by the common values of hospitality, honor, and respect for elders. Pakistani society has extremes of wealth and poverty, and daily life for most people is full of difficulties, yet everyone knows how to cope with crises. Creative and adaptable, Pakistanis are among the most self-reliant people in the world, bouncing back after major catastrophes. Culture Smart! Pakistan takes you behind the headlines and introduces you to many of the country's little-known traditions. It describes the vitally important cultural and historical background, shows you how modern Pakistanis live today, and offers crucial advice on what to expect and how to behave in different circumstances. This is an extraordinary country of enterprising, tough, and passionate people. Earn their trust and you will be rewarded many times over.

Bangladesh - Culture Smart!
Bangladesh - Culture Smart!

Author: Urmi Rahman

Publisher: Kuperard

Published: 2014-12-01

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1857336968

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Bangladesh is a young country with an ancient history. Situated on the lush, green, and fertile land of the Ganges delta, the country gained its independence from Pakistan in 1971. It is a land of writers, saints, scholars, and artists, famous for its music, dance, and drama; folklore; festivals and celebrations; and its distinctive culinary tradition. When you first arrive in Bangladesh, you may be overwhelmed by the crowds, the traffic jams, the humidity, and the lack of familiar facilities. However, your perspective will quickly change as you come to know its people. Generosity, honesty, integrity, and good humour are all traits common to this land. Today, 80 percent of the population live in rural areas, and Bangladesh remains for the most part a very traditional society, adhering to customs and norms that go back hundreds of years. As such, an understanding of Bangladeshi culture is critical. Culture Smart! Bangladesh will introduce you to the culture and the people beyond the stereotypes and headlines. It offers clear advice on what to expect and how to behave in different social situations. Whether you are a tourist or you are traveling on business, it will equip you with the tools you need to make the most of your trip. Welcome to Bangladesh! Bangladeshe swagato!

Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan
Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan

Author: Ahmad Faruqui

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-06-14

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1351761579

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This title was first published in 2002. Policy-makers in South Asia, the Middle East and the Asian Pacific, decision-makers in the OECD countries, organizations and specialists in academe, will all find this publication indispensable. It presents an integrated model of national security that emphasizes military and non-military determinants. In the light of this model, it analyzes Pakistan’s defence policies over the last half-century and proposes a radical reform of Pakistan’s military organization. In addition to offering a comprehensive look at national security, this book provides coherent, interrelated analysis of the key issues such as political leadership, social and economic development and foreign policy.

The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State
The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

Author: Declan Walsh

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2020-11-17

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0393249921

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Winner of the 2021 Overseas Press Club of America Cornelius Ryan Award 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.

A Brief History of Pakistan
A Brief History of Pakistan

Author: James Wynbrandt

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 081606184X

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From the Publisher: A Brief History of Pakistan attempts to answer these questions in a concise yet thorough account. By illuminating the nation's past, this book offers readers a detailed perspective of Pakistan today and enables them to consider soundly how the country, once a birthplace of civilization, might change in the future.

Hong Kong - Culture Smart!
Hong Kong - Culture Smart!

Author: Vickie Chan

Publisher: Kuperard

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1787029573

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Visitors marvel at Hong Kong's breathtaking location, its amazing architecture, its exciting shopping, and its fine dining. And yet it is a land of opposites—of order juxtaposed with chaos, of ancient etiquette and seemingly abrupt manners, a place where rich and poor live in close proximity. Culturally, Hong Kong is rooted in the traditions of China, but there is more than a patina of Westernization. And despite stiff competition, it remains the principal international financial center in China. Hong Kong has more holidays than anywhere in the world, and most are celebrated in the streets or parks. Culture Smart! Hong Kong introduces the reader to this vibrant, multifaceted society. It provides helpful advice and cultural insights on business practice and social etiquette.

Pakistan
Pakistan

Author: Anatol Lieven

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2012-03-06

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 1610391624

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In the past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, and a large diaspora in Britain and North America, Pakistan is central to the hopes of jihadis and the fears of their enemies. Yet the greatest short-term threat to Pakistan is not Islamist insurgency as such, but the actions of the United States, and the greatest long-term threat is ecological change. Anatol Lieven's book is a magisterial investigation of this highly complex and often poorly understood country: its regions, ethnicities, competing religious traditions, varied social landscapes, deep political tensions, and historical patterns of violence; but also its surprising underlying stability, rooted in kinship, patronage, and the power of entrenched local elites. Engagingly written, combining history and profound analysis with reportage from Lieven's extensive travels as a journalist and academic, Pakistan: A Hard Country is both utterly compelling and deeply revealing.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Author: Mohsin Hamid

Publisher: Anchor Canada

Published: 2009-06-05

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 0307373355

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From the author of the award-winning Moth Smoke comes a perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature. At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. . . Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entrée into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love. Elegant and compelling, Mohsin Hamid’s second novel is a devastating exploration of our divided and yet ultimately indivisible world. “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services as a bridge.” —from The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Wandering Falcon
The Wandering Falcon

Author: Jamil Ahmad

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 0670085332

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The boy known as Tor Baz—the black falcon —wanders between tribes. He meets men who fight under different flags, and women who risk everything if they break their society’s code of honour. Where has he come from, and where will destiny take him? Set in the decades before the rise of the Taliban, Jamil Ahmad’s stunning debut takes us to the essence of human life in the forbidden areas where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet. Today the ‘tribal areas’ are often spoken about as a remote region, a hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks and conflict. In The Wandering Falcon, this highly traditional, honour-bound culture is revealed from the inside for the first time. With rare tenderness and perception, Jamil Ahmad describes a world of custom and cruelty, of love and gentleness, of hardship and survival; a fragile, unforgiving world that is changing as modern forces make themselves known. With the fate-defying story of Tor Baz, he has written an unforgettable novel of insight, compassion and timeless wisdom. It is true, I am neither a Mahsud nor a Wazir. But I can tell you as little about who I am as I can about who I shall be. Think of Tor Baz as your hunting falcon. That should be enough.

Afghanistan - Culture Smart!
Afghanistan - Culture Smart!

Author: Nazes Afroz

Publisher: Kuperard

Published: 2013-12-01

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1857336801

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Afghanistan is situated at the crossroads of Asia, a strategically important location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Down the ages it has been subjected to continuous foreign invasion and intervention—from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, and as a pawn in the struggle between the British and Russian Empires—making its people wary of outsiders. That history is being repeated in the twenty-first century. Afghanistan has always been seen from the outside as a realm of much intrigue and many myths. The Afghans tried to keep their distance from the outside world—especially from the Europeans who, whether in pursuit of imperial goals or simply as explorer&–travelers, attempted to enter and traverse the land. Their very elusiveness attracted Westerners to this landlocked country of high mountains and breathtaking beauty, where age-old customs and traditions were zealously guarded, sometimes at the cost of many lives. The Afghan people are a tapestry of ethnicities woven over time—Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and many smaller ones. Society is organized mainly along ethnic and tribal lines, but ethnic identity becomes irrelevant when a common enemy threatens to take control of the country. There are also many shared values and unwritten codes of conduct that govern interpersonal relations, which are not taken lightly. Visitors are struck by the simplicity, hospitability, dignity, and generosity of the Afghan people, and often confounded by customs that they find hard to understand. Culture Smart! Afghanistan is a unique introduction to the background, habits, traditions, idiosyncrasies, suspicions about foreigners, and patterns of behavior of the Afghan people. It offers visitors invaluable information and insights that will help them to interact with Afghans, to interpret their behavior, and to behave appropriately in their company, whether in personal or business exchanges. Once the ice is broken, the rewards will be great.