This book is highly recommended for approaching Indian and Pakistani nuclear history in a comparative framework that which, although not singular, enhances the wealth of literature from a 'regional' perspective that has poured in ever since 'Buddha' smiled again in the Pokhran desert and the 'Islamic bomb' shattered the silence of the Chagai hills.
The strengths of the book are that it gives us insights into how a weapon system takes on ideological and symbolic value. The analysis of discourses in both countries shows how identities are constructed around these focal symbols and how attitudes towards nuclear weapons become the criteria of judging ones nationalist and religious credentials. The other strength of the book is that it is fair and even-handed...indeed, the book can be used as an excellent study of the construction of the 'other'...I recommend the book to experts on South Asia as well as to ordinary readers--indeed, especially to the latter.
Haider Nizamani...has chosen an unusual but most interesting topic for detailed analysis. He has examined the way India and Pakistan have used language to define and exploit their nuclear ambitions. ...The book adds another dimension to a discussion of rhetorics by linking it to the theoretical framework developed around nuclear weapons by such antipodal scholars like Kenneth Waltz and Scott Sagan.
...this book contains valuable discourse analysis which helps in demystifying the prevailing myths about the two nuclear programmes and explains the historical specificity of the canons of dominant security discourses.
...Nizamani's assumptions are fresh...[t]his book is...highly recommendable for approaching Indian and Pakistani nuclear history in a comparative framework...
...Haider Nizamani's thoughtful and unusual book...concerns itself with the nuclear discourse--"nukespeak"--within India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests...there is very little that one can seriously disagree with in this highly perceptive analysis.
...a good attempt in surveying the nuclear debate and the domestic complexities involved therein. Future scholars should build upon the themes raised...the book is highly recommended for both..the specialist as well as the general reader who is interested in the dynamics of the Indo-Pak nuclear discourse.
[this] new authoritative study...makes clear that [India's and Pakistan's] nuclear programmes did not originate in response to specific security problems. They were born in visions of national identity. Adversaries were not the cause. Rather, they had to be found.
It provides a useful historical overview and valuable bibliographic reference to internal debates in India and Pakistan.
Review
"'The Roots of Rhetoric' is a valuable addition to scholarly analyses of the genesis and politics of nuclear weapons on the Indian subcontinent...[t]he book points to the striking similarity of a pseudo 'political realism' that compels Indian and Pakistani nuclear hawks to dwell on identical fears and advocate the same plan of action." - Pervez Hoodbhoy Professor of Physics Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad
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