. >> host: nick schmidle, author "to live or to perish forever." probably the best travel book memoir written in this generation. >> guest: thanks, ralph. >> "after words" and several other c-span programs are available for download of podcast. more with nicholas schmidle and ralph peters in just a moment. "after words" with nicholas schmidle and ralph peters continues. >> host: ayaan ralph peterson, and we are having a great time today, at least i am, talking with nicholas speed, the author of "to live or to perish forever" a superb and remarkably timely book on his two recent years and pakistan, a country very much in the headlines and is granted dominate headlines for some time to come. nick, one of the striking things about this series of tales is the time spent with taliban of fighting drugs with pakistanis but the other side of the taliban, the enforcers, people bringing sharia law to the northwest frontier and perhaps you could start us off by just telling us how you got there, introduce, something you could read from this book that will exp

schmidle. the book is to live or parish forever, and i am just plain jealous, congratulations, nick. >> guest: thanks. >> pat robertson is the found are of the christian broadcasting network. here he provides advice on how to maintain economic stability in unstable times. the library in virginia beach host this event it's 45 minutes. [applause] ...

with nicholas schmidle, the author of just an incredibly timely and well written new book on pakistan, his ad ventures of pakistan and misadventures, "to live or to perish forever." now, nick, as i mentioned earlier is that the web of relationships, serious human relationships you were able to build with a wide range of pakistani radicals extremists, politicians, average people. and there are times just when i was reading the book and fall on a former soldier and i just wouldn't have gone there. i would have turned back. it is real bravery i guess you have to be young enough to accomplish. but in the book, you also talked about your first meeting with any kind of radical and just sort of cold shock about how that happened and the realization that you are in now. can you tell a little about that? >> guest: short, this was the first meeting like you said i was going to meet someone who qualified as an extremist and as a member of a band organization and he belonged most awful influential antishia organize nation, which has very close ties with taliban which had been banned by the musharraf government for secretary in killings and what not. and so, what i was trying to unders