Synopses & Reviews
In recent decades, the world has seen an unprecedented change in human life: for the first time in history, more people now live in cities than in the countryside. As Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep so aptly puts it, we are living in the age of the andldquo;instant cityandrdquo;, where vast metropolitan areas emerge practically overnight. No rising metropolis has experienced this epic migration more dramatically than Karachi, Pakistan, which has grown from 400,000 people in the 1940s to more than 13 million today. Karachi is the largest city in a nation of vital strategic interest to the United Statesandmdash;yet is a place Americans frequently misunderstand.and#160; In his first book, Inskeep explores how this one city illuminates the perils and possibilities of rapidly growing megacities all around the world.
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Karachiandrsquo;s explosive growth was triggered in 1947, when British India was divided into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. That act unleashed mass migrations that more than doubled Karachiandrsquo;s population in a few years, and created far deeper divisions that affect the city to this day. In Instant City, Inskeep tells the story of a single harrowing day that sheds light on Karachiandrsquo;s constant tensions. On December 28, 2009, a bomb ripped through a Shia religious procession, killing dozens of people. Soon afterward, hundreds of businesses were torched in Karachiandrsquo;s central commercial district. As he peels back the layers of that terrible dayandmdash;both the history that led up to it, and its troubled aftermathandmdash;Inskeep discovers that it exposes many of the pressures that are shaping Karachi, from terrorism to ethnic conflict, class divisions to scarcity of resources, and above all that classic trait of urban dwellers everywhere: an obsession with real estate.
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In his investigation, Inskeep meets the people who help the city surviveandmdash;from the founder of a world-renowned ambulance service to a doctor who re-opens her emergency room the day after it was bombed. He illuminates a gallery of planners, dictators and dreamers who since 1947 have influenced the cityandrsquo;s growth, though almost never in the way they intended. Drawing on interviews with a broad cross section of Karachi residents, Inskeep has created a vibrant and nuanced portrait of the forces competing to shape the future of one of the worldandrsquo;s fastest growing cities.
Review
“It is an act of courage for Inskeep to write a book about Karachi based on interviews in that city. As the well-known host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” he must have been aware of the possible dangers he faced… A tribute to Karachi is long overdue, and Inskeep provides one. “If this book succeeds at all,” he writes, “it lets the city speak for itself and be judged on its own terms.” For those exasperated and puzzled by Pakistan, Instant City is an excellent introduction.” THE WASHINGTON POST
Review
“Informative, ambitious, chaotic, and sometimes glorious” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Review
“Absorbing… reads like a sophisticated thriller as the author traces the movements of a number of people… he keeps his narrative well paced and full of small surprises. The book sparkles when Inskeep takes an unexpected turn and follows a stranger, or when he tracks down a new trend to illuminate a new facet of the city. The old man he encounters outside a liquor shop, the slum under construction, the upscale leisure park tell us more about the city than any bomb blast…Not many politicians read books in Karachi, but if they were to read one, let it be Instant City. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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“Steve Inskeep has written a magnificent, engrossing book about one of the world’s most vivid and fascinating cities. His subject – urban Pakistan’s struggles and zig-zagging achievements – is of deep and timely importance. His voice reflects the best traditions of politically alert travel writing, endowed with calm wisdom and curious empathy.” Steve Coll, author of GHOST WARS and THE BIN LADENS
Review
“Urbanity is our certain and fixed future. How human beings live together—or fail to live together—compacted into great cities where a world’s races, religions and ancestries share ever-tighter quarters—this is the fundamental question for the new century. With
Instant City, Steve Inskeep tells the story of a single violent and volatile day in the teeming streets of Karachi, Pakistan. In doing so,
he reveals what is now at stake not just for Pakistan, or Asia, but for the human species. This is thoughtful, important work.” David Simon, creator of HBO's "The Wire;" author of HOMICIDE
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andldquo;Informative, ambitious, chaotic, and sometimes gloriousandrdquo;
Review
andldquo;It is an act of courage for Inskeep to write a book about Karachi based on interviews in that city. As the well-known host of NPRandrsquo;s andldquo;Morning Edition,andrdquo; he must have been aware of the possible dangers he facedandhellip; A tribute to Karachi is long overdue, and Inskeep provides one. andldquo;If this book succeeds at all,andrdquo; he writes, andldquo;it lets the city speak for itself and be judged on its own terms.andrdquo; For those exasperated and puzzled by Pakistan, Instant City is an excellent introduction.andrdquo;
Synopsis
From the host of NPR's Morning Edition, a deeply reported portrait of Karachi, Pakistan, a city that illuminates the perils and possibilities of rapidly growing metropolises all around the world.
In recent decades, the world has seen an unprecedented shift of people from the countryside into cities. As Steve Inskeep so aptly puts it, we are now living in the age of the "instant city," when new megacities can emerge practically overnight, creating a host of unique pressures surrounding land use, energy, housing, and the environment. In his first book, the co-host of Morning Edition explores how this epic migration has transformed one of the world's most intriguing instant cities: Karachi, Pakistan.
Karachi has exploded from a colonial port town of 350,000 in 1941 to a sprawling metropolis of at least 13 million today. As the booming commercial center of Pakistan, Karachi is perhaps the largest city whose stability is a vital security concern of the United States, and yet it is a place that Americans have frequently misunderstood.
As Inskeep underscores, one of the great ironies of Karachi's history is that the decision to divide Pakistan and India along religious lines in 1947 only unleashed deeper divisions within the city-over religious sect, ethnic group, and political party. In Instant City, Inskeep investigates the 2009 bombing of a Shia religious procession that killed dozens of people and led to further acts of terrorism, including widespread arson at a popular market. As he discovers, the bombing is in many ways a microcosm of the numerous conflicts that divide Karachi, because people wondered if the perpetrators were motivated by religious fervor, political revenge, or simply a desire to make way for new real estate in the heart of the city. Despite the violence that frequently consumes Karachi, Inskeep finds remarkable signs of the city's tolerance, vitality, and thriving civil society-from a world-renowned ambulance service to a socially innovative project that helps residents of the vast squatter neighborhoods find their own solutions to sanitation, health care, and education.
Drawing on interviews with a broad cross section of Karachi residents, from ER doctors to architects to shopkeepers, Inskeep has created a vibrant and nuanced portrait of the forces competing to shape the future of one of the world's fastest growing cities.
Synopsis
Morning Edition cohost Steve Inskeep presents a riveting account of a single harrowing day in December 2009 that sheds light on the constant tensions in Karachi, Pakistan—when a bomb blast ripped through a Shia religious procession, followed by the torching of hundreds of businesses in Karachi’s commercial district. Through interviews with a broad cross section of Karachi residents, Inskeep peels back the layers of that terrible day. It is the beginning, and a constant touchstone, in a journey across the city’s epic history and its troubled present Thrilling and deeply researched, Instant City tells the story of one of the world’s fastest-growing metropolises and the forces competing to shape its future.
About the Author
STEVEand#160;INSKEEP is a co-host of Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio news program in the United States. After the September 11 attacks, he covered the war in Afghanistan, the hunt for al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan, and the war in Iraq. He won a National Headliner Award for investigating a military raid that went wrong in Afghanistan; the Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for andquot;The Price of African Oil,andquot; about conflict in Nigeria; and shared an Alfred I. Dupont award for The York Project, a groundbreaking series of conversations on race in America.and#160; This is his first book.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Steve Inskeep