Fouzia Saeed

Sometimes the best way to understand a culture is to explore a narrow-but-telling slice of it.

Saeed's exploration of the "red light" district of Lahore tells us a lot about Pakistani culture -- good, bad and mostly, simply the way things are.

Being a western-educated Pakistani woman, Saeed is in an excellent position to interpret the inside of her home culture to western outsiders.

When all one sees of Pakistan are chanting mobs of extremists on the TV news, the place can seem one-dimensional. Saeed shows us another complex, vibrant and often contradictory side.

It's easy and enjoyable reading and it's too bad that this book remained obscure.… (meer)