Popular representations of Pakistan's North-West Frontier have long featured simplistic images of tribal blood feuds, fanatical religion, and the seclusion of women. The rise to power of the radical Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan enhanced the region's reputation as a place of anti-Western militancy. Immersed in the lives of the Frontier's villagers for more than ten years, Magnus Marsden's evocative study of the Chitral region challenges all these stereotypes. His exploration contributes much to understanding religion and politics within and beyond the Muslim societies of southern Asia.