Book Review: Hard Choices: A Memoir by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hard Choices is a comprehensive work about Hillary Rodham Clinton’s experiences as Secretary of State between the years 2009 and 2013. It is very detailed (as detailed as it can allowed to be without becoming utterly boring) and encompasses all major geopolitical issues that came forth during her tenure. From the perspective of a reader with a little knowledge of the happenings around the globe it comes as a nice lesson on most things that transpired during those 4 years. It endeavours to provide justification for major foreign policy decisions by the United States of America, their tactical manoeuvres while allowing certain candour and admitting to the different choices the Obama administration made between the ideologies of democracy and human rights that the US claims to champion and the realism of furthering their own political, military and economic interests.

Although a good book, it reads more like a narration and lacks personal opinion one would expect from a public servant of Hillary Clinton’s stature. At times it also becomes a tedious read. The book is almost exclusively about Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State and is thus the wrong choice if one is looking for a better understanding of Hillary Clinton’s life and formative years. For that the correct choice would be Living History by the same author.

Book Review: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

I am Malala. This is my story.

A heart wrenching story of a brave young girl who did everything she could given her limited means and then some.

The book majorly deals with the life of Malala before the shooting and touches briefly upon the changes in her life after.

The first part of the book deals with a description of her background- her homeland within Pakistan called Swat, her heritage, culture, extended family and immediate family. Although coming from a conservative muslim family, Malala is clearly shaped more by her father’s evolved beliefs and fighting spirit and is aware of her rights from a very young age. The book then moves on to the exposition of Taliban and how they slowly and steadily entrenched themselves firmly into the society of Swat valley. They start with setting up a radio channel (FM) to reach the masses in the villages and airing seemingly innocuous shows over the channel like the interpretation of the Quran which the pious but illiterate people find not only beneficial but also interesting. They volunteer in these small towns and help out in case of natural disasters like earthquakes and floods when the government aid doesn’t reach these backward places in time. Operating free madrasas (religious schools) for the poor funded by Saudi money they provide anything thing but openminded education to the children in the village. They thus earn the loyalty of the populace until finally showing their true bigot colours and running a parallel administration to the government where the rule of law doesn’t work. They vandalised historic monuments, public building like schools etc. “They destroyed everything old and brought nothing new.” Favouring Nazi like propaganda and burning CDs, DVDs and TVs and meting out public floggings to keep the dissidents silent, they upped the ante by declaring war on the state. Thus “the Taliban became the enemy of fine arts, culture and our history”.

This is the story of extraordinary struggle of an ordinary girl Malala in one such war torn region. Aided and encouraged in no small measure by her parents, particularly her father, she asserts her right to education in the face of the terror group Taliban. Defying the edicts of Taliban she stood up for what she believed in. “Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human”. This resistance culminated in her being shot by the terror outfit.Malala truly believed that over time things would improve in her valley and peace would return. She believed in the power of debate and peaceful negotiations and later express regret on not having had a chance to explain her ideology to her shooter.

The Pakistani government and the army although unable to ensure her protection pre-shooting knew the diplomatic time bomb they were sitting on which mandated them to ensure her safety and recovery leading to her treatment in the UK and her exile to the country.

Christina Lamb has written a lucid and simple book about a visionary girl and everyone should read it. It makes one believe that each of us can bring about a change in our way.