Historical Dictionary of Pakistan (3rd edition)

By one of those coincidences which Jung thought deeply significant, on the day when the Historical Dictionary of Pakistan was delivered to me, BBC Television broadcast a documentary on the country, in which two of the contemporary statesmen featured in it (both retired generals) were interviewed. Prominent personalities, many of them still active, make up the largest component of the 500 entries in the dictionary, which range in length from 150 to 2,000 words. By no means all are politicians: there are economic and cultural figures also, not forgetting several cricketers. It is explained that some people are entered under...