Stephen Cohen has earlier written on the Pakistani army, but he was an "outsider", granted selective access by a military that was confident of his discretion. Shuja Nawaz's work is far more comprehensive, combining decades of experience as a journalist and TV broadcaster in Pakistan, the research rigour of an analyst, and an astonishing facility at recording and recalling incidents over the years. And yes! He just happens to be the brother of former Pakistani army chief, General Asif Nawaz, which obtained for him access to secret army records and files inaccessible to the ordinary chronicler.
Nawaz's book also draws relevance from dozens of personal interviews with Pakistani decision makers over the years, shining important new light on events that are still current. That Nawaz Sharif is lying when he says Kargil came as a surprise to him becomes evident from the author's interviews with Sharif's foreign minister and close confidant, Sartaj Aziz, and with then ISI Director General, Ziauddin