This volume was conceived to serve a variety of reader categories. It should meet the needs of teachers and students engaged in the study of Pakistan; it is hoped that it will offer area specialists an enlarged perspective from which to examine their own findings; and it ought to prove useful to the general reader who wishes to keep abreast of the forces and events shaping our time. Every effort has been made to define the essential themes, to provide the pertinent data, to analyze the significant events thoroughly, and to present the material in a lucid, fast-moving manner. Overall the book should be both informative and provocative. Given my long association with Pakistan,the many years spent investigating and experiencing its development, the unique opportunities I have enjoyed for personal contact with the country's passing leadership as well as its diverse population, I have taken liberties which less-involved scholars would no doubt avoid. I make no apologies for this somewhat personalized approach, or for the pointed comments that will be found throughout the volume. The Pakistan story does not lend itself to sterile description. It is an exciting and important chronicle and it ought to be presented in a fashion that stimulates debate in addition to making available the necessary facts. I trust I have succeeded in fulfilling both objectives.
