In a comment to Book Recommendation By Leonard Cohen: Consciousness Speaks: Conversations with Ramesh S. Balsekar, Klaus Offermann writes:
I will read anything Leonard Cohen recommended because I believe he was a very wise man and he was a very well read man.
A number of years ago I decided to study in depth, how the West got itself into such a mess in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and the Middle-East. I read and followed many authors, including the books and writings of Ahmed Rashid.
At the time (Oct. 8, 2012), I was stunned to come across Ahmed’s facebook post, indicating that Leonard Cohen had read Ahmed’s “Descent Into Chaos”, a deeply critical analysis of US foreign policy in the region.
From then on, Leonard Cohen songs such as “Almost Like the Blues”, sang to me singed with a sad reality, knowing that Leonard was so well informed about the detail of issues, when his lyrics appeared to explore them in a more universal fashion.
Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia Paperback by Ahmed Rashid
- Paperback: 560 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Revised edition (April 7, 2009)
- Also available as e-book
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 014311557X
- ISBN-13: 978-0143115571
The Leonard Cohen Reading List
Descent into Chaos is the latest entry to the Leonard Cohen Reading List, a compilation of books admired by the Canadian singer-songwriter.
All entries in the Leonard Cohen Reading List can be found at
The Original Leonard Cohen Reading List
I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Nov 30, 2016.