- Author Name : Bilal Zahoor
- Language : English
- Cover : Paper Back
- No of Pages : 281
- Publication : Folio Books
The book contains over 1300 quotes and excerpts from the books, papers and essays of thinkers as towering and unconventional as David Harvey, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Daniel Ziblatt amongst others. Unlike most books of quotes, it also attempts to challenge the cultural and intellectual hegemony of the Global North and includes passages and quotes from the path-breaking works of the eastern thinkers such as Edward Said, Tariq Ali, Rubina Saigol, Arundhati Roy, Ayesha Siddiqa and Afiya Zia. Even a cursory reading of the book shows the diversity of views and authors, reflecting a break from the traditional methods of compiling a book of quotes.
Even more impressive is the format of the book. The book covers 30 topics broken into multiple sub-topics to reflect on some of the most significant issues facing the world. Fascism, for instance, is a word that has gained great traction in recent times, but cannot be understood without taking account of its history, evolution and contemporary variants. The chapter of quotes on fascism The CSS Wisdom offers covers most of these aspects: it first sets out to define fascism, then explores its history and interaction with gender and its various existing forms and ideologies, followed by a set of quotes suggesting ways to fight this dangerous menace. It is this excellent mix of breadth and depth that makes The CSS Wisdom unique. The breadth lies in its scope and the vastness of issues and topics it covers, the depth in the multitude of aspects ofa topic it delves into.
From politics and democracy to economy and development and from governance and corruption to education and literature, the book seems to explore a vast range of themes that are highly relevant to a
CSS examination, especially the papers on Essay, Current Affairs and Pakistan Affairs. The book also offers some brilliant quotes on feminism, contemporary social and separatist movements, human rights, refugee crisis, water crisis and religious extremism. Living up to its name, it also uncovers the wisdom of the media scholars and takes account of the increasing censorship in Pakistan and abroad.