Benazir Bhutto’s Memoir, ‘Daughter of Destiny’

Benazir Bhutto’s Daughter of Destiny (Simon & Schuster, 1989) was one of the most remarkable memoirs I reviewed during my 11 years as the book editor of the Plain Dealer. I was especially struck by how calmly Bhutto speaks in the book of being tortured by the regime of Zia ul-Haq, which kept her at first under house arrest and then imprisoned. Among the methods of torture she endured: She was strung up by her feet and beaten until she lost consciousness (and writes in the book about what a blessed relief it was finally to black out).

Many people may have wondered how Bhutto could have returned to Pakistan from her recent exile when the situation was so dangerous for her. Anyone who has read Daughter of Destiny knows part of the answer, if not all of it: It is not just that she had extraordinary courage but that, in a sense, she had endured worse than death.

My Plain Dealer review of Daughter of Destiny isn’t online, so I can’t link to it. But here’s a brief but fair review of the book that I agree with:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19890601fabook7586/benazir-bhutto/daughter-of-destiny.html

(c) 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

www.janiceharayda.com