Pakistan is more than the sum of its news-making parts. In these marvellous essays on history, politics and society, cultural critic Nadeem Farooq Paracha upturns various reductive readings of the country by revealing its multi-layered reality. With wit and insight, he investigates past events and their implications for modern-day society.

Thus, one piece explores how and why Mohenjo-daro has been neglected as a historical site, and another examines how Muhammad-bin-Qasim, who briefly invaded Sindh in 713 CE, has come to be lionised as the original founder of Pakistan. There is a story about a Pakistani Jimi Hendrix who plays the guitar like a dream and also one about a medieval emperor who lives on in the swear words of a Punjabi peasant. There are essays on Pakistani pop music, on Afro-Pakistanis and on how Jhuley Lal came to be more than just a folk deity for Sindhi immigrants in India.

A past in ruins -- White heat -- A dry run -- My name is Pakistan and I'm not an Arab -- Dubious ancestors -- A saint's journey -- A matter of land -- The minister of the kitchen -- A return to the womb -- Their man from Africa -- A band's end -- Escaping Mao -- The Indus Raga -- Drinking lessons -- Wearing the inside out -- It came from the west -- Points of exit