A memoir of Karachi through the eyes of its women An Indies Introduce Debut Authors Selection For a brief moment on December 27; 2007; life came to a standstill in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto; the country’s former prime minister and the first woman ever to lead a Muslim country; had been assassinated at a political rally just outside Islamabad. Back in Karachi—Bhutto’s birthplace and Pakistan’s other great metropolis—Rafia Zakaria’s family was suffering through a crisis of its own: her Uncle Sohail; the man who had brought shame upon the family; was near death. In that moment these twin catastrophes—one political and public; the other secret and intensely personal—briefly converged.Zakaria uses that moment to begin her intimate exploration of the country of her birth. Her Muslim-Indian family immigrated to Pakistan from Bombay in 1962; escaping the precarious state in which the Muslim population in India found itself following the Partition. For them; Pakistan represented enormous promise. And for some time; Zakaria’s family prospered and the city prospered. But in the 1980s; Pakistan’s military dictators began an Islamization campaign designed to legitimate their rule—a campaign that particularly affected women’s freedom and safety. The political became personal when her aunt Amina’s husband; Sohail; did the unthinkable and took a second wife; a humiliating and painful betrayal of kin and custom that shook the foundation of Zakaria’s family but was permitted under the country’s new laws. The young Rafia grows up in the shadow of Amina’s shame and fury; while the world outside her home turns ever more chaotic and violent as the opportunities available to post-Partition immigrants are dramatically curtailed and terrorism sows its seeds in Karachi. Telling the parallel stories of Amina’s polygamous marriage and Pakistan’s hopes and betrayals; The Upstairs Wife is an intimate exploration of the disjunction between exalted dreams and complicated realities.
#469313 in Books 2014-03-18 2014-03-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .79 x 6.02l; .87 #File Name: 0807033316264 pages
Review
289 of 295 people found the following review helpful. I was there!By Janet ConnerClaire Conner is my big sister by three years. We shared twin beds in our Chicago home and I can attest to all her stories. I was there. At just 13; Claire was roped into the world of the John Birch Society. If she wasn't at school; she was stuffing envelopes and attending meetings. I was assigned to help with dinner and then go upstairs and keep my younger brother and baby sister quiet during the meetings. That's why Claire is on the full page Life Magazine spread and I am not. I was probably changing a diaper.Dinner at our house was unlike dinner at any home I've been in then or since. The only topics worthy of discussion were politics and religion. I've never met anyone else whose dinner conversation included how the Communist Chinese tortured women. It was tough to swallow your meatloaf but you better be quiet. Those who tried to change the subject or introduce another way of thinking paid a high price.If Claire's book was only a memoir about "What it was like to grow up in a cult;" it would be interesting and important. But it is so much more. For a couple of years now; we've called one another and said; "Sheesh; did you hear what so-n-so in the right said NOW?" We recognized all of it. It is all old JBS stuff. We know. We had the bumper stickers and pamphlets to prove it.I've heard so many people wonder aloud; "Where DID these people come from?" Well; Claire answers that question in Wrapped in the Flag. It would be nice to think that the old John Birch Society faded away; but it hasn't. It's larger and stronger than it ever was. And it is influencing our political thinking and language whether we know it or not. I am so grateful that Claire asked herself a lot of hard questions about what we were told; and generously shares her very open and often painful story of learning how to think and speak for herself.I hope this book makes you think and speak for yourself. It certainly has made me remember.135 of 140 people found the following review helpful. Far More Than a MemoirBy Mark L. TaylorThis book is a book I've been waiting for for many years. I; too; grew up a "Birch kid" and Claire Conner's story resonates deeply with my experience of having grown up in the intellectual cult known as the John Birch Society (JBS).Conner's family moved from the Chicago area to Mauston; Wisconsin. My father was president of the local JBS chapter in Madison; Wisconsin; at the same time; in the late 1960's. At that time Madison was churning with anti-Vietnam War protests and civil rights activities. To say I grew up in a world of head-turning political extremes is an understatement. Given the very closed - even secretive -- circle of JBS extremists; my guess is that my father and mother knew Claire's parents.Conner's book was the first time I felt anyone else had any idea what it was like to grow up in the cauldron of far right wing paranoia; hate and rigid thought control that is the JBS. Certainly; over the years I have spoken about my experience with close friends but there quickly comes a point where the person I am speaking with is clearly not getting what I am describing; it's too absurd. Truly; you have to have been there for years on in to really "get" what it was like to grow up in the JBS political cult. While personal stories; like Conner's or my own; of growing up in such an environment can make for a good read there is a larger story here that affects everyone in America.What we are talking about with the John Birch Society is the cult of right-wing authoritarianism; a rigid world view of absolutes. In the JBS there is no middle ground; no nuance; no possible exception; no opportunity for dialogue; no questions; no other possible interpretation of events; no possibility that the world doesn't conform completely to a rigid belief system imposed from authority at the top. Those who disagree; doubt; or even question the basic tenets and convoluted teachings of such a system are labeled traitors; idiots; immoral or dangerous; usually all four. They are to be dealt with severely; and at times were in my home when I dared to question or disagree.At our family dinner table; like the Conners'; there was a high degree of political lecturing. It was very clear there was no room for doubt or any form of "yeah; but" thinking; the agenda was clear; and as unbalanced as it was unbending. Like Conner's mother's dining room table; my father's desk in the corner of the family room was always piled high with JBS brochures; fliers; bumper stickers; petitions; pamphlets and books. He was one of the foot soldiers in the Barry Goldwater campaign. As a kid I joined my father campaigning door-to-door for Goldwater.I remember up-and-coming young true believers coming to the house to meet with my father; he was a kind of political mentor to many young conservative activists at that time. Some of those people went on to become well known in Republican circles.The tea party extremists are the modern shoots of the JBS; and; in fact; some of the big private money that fueled the early JBS now underwrites the fiery extremism of the modern tea party. Fred Koch - father of David and Charles - was a founding member and funder of the JBS. Like the JBS; the tea party and many parts of the libertarian movement there is a nasty authoritarian streak running right up the spine of the modern right wing movement. It is a rigid authoritarian rule that can be scaled up from the family; to a business or school; projected further to a political party (as it has) and onward to an entire nation; as is happening.The JBS is a microcosm and understanding it can help explain so much of what is going on right now in America. Just as my family was stunted; shut down and eventually broken by my father's JBS extremism; so; too; the United States Congress under the authoritarian moves of the hard right extremists in congress. In many ways; Conner's parents and my father have won.While Claire Conner's book is a compelling memoir I urge readers to view it as a cautionary tale from the trenches of the far right and an introduction to the kind of nation we are well on the way to becoming.94 of 101 people found the following review helpful. An Important; Perhaps Essential BookBy Michael AustinWRAPPED IN THE FLAG is a well-written; compelling memoir of a political movement that most Americans know almost nothing about. During the Cold War; the John Birch Society defined the far-right wing of American politics. Born in the aftermath of the McCarthy Hearings; it was originally organized to continue McCarthy's work--to oppose communism in all of its forms and to root out communists and communist sympathizers in American government and culture. As the group developed; it folded more and more conservative causes into the general umbrella of the "International Communist Conspiracy"--a highly organized and well-funded superorganism that included labor unions; civil rights organizations; universities; public schools; the news media; and; minimally; two American presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.The essential facts about the Birch Society are now part of the historical record. What Conner gives us are the feelings of a thoughtful; intelligent young woman who grew up in and around the Society and had to learn how to balance family loyalty with her growing discomfort with what the Birchers stood for. Claire Conner had a front-row seat at the birth and development of the John Birch Society. Her parents were personal friends of JBS founder Robert Welch; her father was a longtime member of the organization's leadership team; and much of her life was defined by the extremist politics of her parents and their friends. She writes poignantly of being a high school student and reading John Howard Griffen's BLACK LIKE ME; or of watching Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech on TV; and realizing how inadequately her received opinions had prepared her to understand the role of race in America. And she writes with great compassion about the conflicts that her emerging liberalism (or; at least; her non-ultra-conservatism) caused between her and the parents she continued to love.Conner does a good job of presenting the Birch Society's political rhetoric in a way that makes it easy to generalize to other extremist groups. The JBS had a single narrative through which it viewed all political events--that a global communist conspiracy had infiltrated America and was working to overthrow liberty and the Constitution. They seized on anything that could support this narrative and explained everything that contradicted it terms derived from the narrative itself. Rational reflection; critical thinking; and linear reasoning could occur only within the boundaries of the narrative; which was always capable of absorbing challenges into its structure and neutralizing them. This is how extremists of all stripes see the world--including (quite ironically) the Stalin-era Soviets against whom the Birch Society so firmly stood.Modern readers will; and should; draw comparisons between the Cold War John Birch Society and the modern Tea Party Movement. Conner draws plenty of lines that we can follow. In the first place; much of the original funding for the Birch Society came from Kansas industrialist Fred Koch; whose sons Charles and David now bankroll many Tea Party groups and causes. Furthermore; the JBS support of Barry Goldwater in 1964 created many of the activists who worked for Ronald Reagan in 1980--who; in turn; serves as a primary inspiration for much of the far right today. And; from Goldwater to Reagan to Ted Cruz; many of the core objectives of the far right have remained constant for the last sixty years: scaling back the federal government; supporting state's rights; returning American to its Christian roots; and fighting "the enemy;" whoever that enemy might be.One of the most important things that WRAPPED IN THE FLAG shows us; then; is that modern Tea Party conservatism is inherently anachronistic. It is designed for a context that no longer exists. Its obsessive concern for states' rights; for example; traces back to the Civil Rights Movement; during which the federal government had to nationalize guard troops in Mississippi and Alabama to integrate schools. It is entirely out of proportion fifty years later. And the Tea Party's deep Cold War roots cause it to conceptualize "Terrorism" (which is actually a tactic) and "Islam" (which is actually a billion very different people) in the same way that the John Birch Society conceptualized communism: as deep; unified conspiracies that allows us to fit everything that happens in the world into a single; black-and-white narrative. "We" are on the side of freedom; while "they" (which includes most American politicians and especially President Obama) want to destroy what makes America great. And because the Tea Party; like the John Birch Society; can only reason effectively within the boundaries of its own narrative; it; like Claire Conner's parents; cannot seriously engage; or compromise; with views that contradict its core assumptions.Understanding the story of the John Birch Society is essential to understanding the rise and persistence of the Tea Party. Beyond that; the JBS gives us an excellent lens for understanding extremist movements of every era and ideology. Because she has such in-depth experience with her subject; Claire Conner is uniquely qualified to write a book like WRAPPED IN THE FLAG. And because she is both a deep thinker and an engaging writer; we should be grateful that she did.Michael Austin; Ph.D.Author of That's Not What They Meant!: Reclaiming the Founding Fathers from America's Right Wing
