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Magnificent Delusions

Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding

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Magnificent Delusions

Written by: Husain Haqqani
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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About this listen

A character-driven history that describes the bizarrely ill-suited alliance between America and Pakistan, written by a uniquely insightful participant: Pakistan's former ambassador to the US.

The relationship between America and Pakistan is based on mutual incomprehension, and always has been. Pakistan - to American eyes - has gone from being a stabilizing friend to an essential military ally to a seedbed of terror. America - to Pakistani eyes - has been a guarantee of security, a coldly distant scold, an enthusiastic military supplier and ally, and now a threat to national security and a source of humiliation.

In their sixty-five year relationship, one country has become a global superpower, the other perilously close to a failed state - perhaps one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Husain Haqqani has a unique insight into Pakistan, hishomeland, and America, where he was the Pakistani ambassador and is now a professor at Boston University. His life has mapped the relationship of Pakistan and America, and he has found himself often close to the heart of it - sometimes in very confrontational circumstances, even under house arrest - which has allowed him to write the story of the two countries' turbulent affair, here memorably laid bare.

©2013 Hussani Haqqani (P)2013 Blackstone Audiobooks
Asia Diplomacy International Relations Middle East Politics & Government

What listeners say about Magnificent Delusions

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    4 out of 5 stars

Detailed view of US-Pak relations since 1947

The book is a detailed overview of Pakistan in US relationships since 1947 it’s brillant book which dwells into the different aspects of the relationship and what kind of delusions that Pakistan had and what kind of expectations did United States have. One thing that I like most about this book is how deep the research is in terms of finding the views of American presidents.

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Worth a listen

Interesting, informative and helpful in explaining the nuances of the Indian sub-continent. More of a historic overview

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Good fact based narrative

Very good insights into Pakistani defence establishment thought process based on facts. Would have better, if it is read by somebody comfortable with names of people and places in this content.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Big fan of Prof Haqqani's work.

He has given great sense of understanding of Pakistan's history and the book is very well articulated. Must read for PPL who are interested in understanding of the politics of Pakistan since it's independence.

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very impressive book !!

loved listening to it, impact it was my first audio book

author has written this book beautifully including various aspect to Pakistan & USA relationship

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A magnificent read

An insider view of the Pakistan foreign policy and the internal machinations and ideology affecting it...

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very good book on pakistani psyche

i loved the book .please read this to know abt pakistan,its history and reason why it continues to flog a dead horse called kashmir

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Engrossing

Well written equally well narrated. Some very hard facts brought out.
The tumultuous relation between USA and Pakistan.

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An excellent overview of the affairs between Pakistan and USA


The only thing I did not like about this book is that it ends in 2014! The rest from that year, backwards to 1947 has been covered pretty exhaustively.

The book is very rich in details with the flow doing absolute justice for such a topic. Hussain Haqqani, true to his background, seems to be an extremely well informed and knowledgeable diplomat. Not only that, he is quite honest and is able to have a measure of just about every thing that’s in this narration.

Such a book that’s thick with so many details and as dense as it can come when talking about foreignness relations and politics, the way it’s been written is nothing short of being absolutely riveting! That’s the word. The book is just riveting and folks who would want to know about Pakistan and it’s dalliance with USA will be richly rewarded.

The narrator does an extremely good job and it was a pleasure listening.

On the whole, it’s a book that needs to be read if some one wants to really understand this subject.

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an impartial account of delusional global relation

Hussain Haqqani and Ralph Lister have together created an interesting read/listen of one of the most important global relationship between US and Pakistan. it's fraught with arm-twisting diplomacy, constant deceit and a delusion of conceited self-worth by Pakistan while playing bogey of India's hegemonistic aspirations and fear of Russian invasion to spread communism. the whole account is written by an insider and seems impartial and factual. it's a pity that after doling out billions of US dollars US continues to be perceived as an enemy within Pakistan. While Pakistan leadership extracted every ounce of US taxpayer's money it continued with it's own agenda without slightest admission to American queries, investigations, intelligence and chastising. Sustained misunderstanding caused by Pakistan's incessant interpretation of American assistance /dialogue as viewed by Pakistan's misplaced self-worth in global geopolitics. An amazing feat by Pakistani leadership by continuously fooling US, Europeans while royally flouting nuclear non-proliferation. No wonder, Pakistan is declared as one of the most feared nations sponsoring global terrorism and a failed economy despite huge financial help from US and Arab countries. In contrast, India's leaders' pragmatic politics and focus on self-development for self-reliance and a trustworthy partners for almost all the countries on the planet. A book worth reading twice for it's fair assessment of geopolitics and diplomacy on the face of lies and deceits.

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