-
See Our Summer
Books to Watch!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Inside the Afghan Women's Resistance
by Cheryl BenardReveals the remarkable
bravery and spirit of the women of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan (RAWA), whose daring clandestine activities defied the forces of the
Taliban and earned the world's fierce admiration.
In Afghanistan under Taliban rule, women were forbidden to work or go to school,
they could not leave their homes without a male chaperone, and they could not be
seen without a head-to-toe covering called the burqa. A woman's
slightest infractions were met with brutal public beatings. That is why it is
both appropriate and incredible that the sole effective civil resistance to
Taliban rule was made by women. Veiled Courage reveals the remarkable
bravery and spirit of the women of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan (RAWA), whose daring clandestine activities defied the forces of the
Taliban and earned the world's fierce admiration.
The complete subordination of women was one of the first acts of the Taliban.
But the women of RAWA refused to cower. They used the burqa to their advantage,
secretly photographing Taliban beatings and executions, and posting the gruesome
pictures on their multi-language website, rawa.org, which is read around the
world. They organized to educate girls and women in underground schools and to
run small businesses in the border towns of Pakistan that allowed widows to
support their families.
If caught, any RAWA activist would have faced sure death. Yet they persisted.
With the overthrow of the Taliban now a reality, RAWA faces a new challenge:
defeating the powers of Islamic fundamentalism of which the Taliban are only one
face and helping build a society in which women are guaranteed full human
rights.
Cheryl Benard, an American sociologist and an important advisor to RAWA,
uses her inside access to write the first behind-the-scenes story of RAWA and
its remarkably brave women. Veiled Courage will change the way people think of Afghanistan, casting its people and its future in a new, more hopeful
light.
Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban
For too long Afghan women have been depicted as merely the victims of war,
repression and extremist ideologies. Now for the first time we hear the voices
of those Afghan women who for years have silently stood up to oppression and
resisted. Cheryl Benard has done a major service to Afghan women and women
everywhere by letting us hear the caged birds sing. An enormously important book
as the world sets out to help Afghanistan rebuild. Geraldine Brooks, author of Years of Wonder and Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
These are dispatches from a hidden war, memoirs of a struggle whose heroics rival, and deserve to be as celebrated, as those of the French resistance or the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Cheryl Benard's research among unimaginably courageous Afghan women is, by turns, horrifying, enlightening and inspiring.
If you liked Veiled Courage, try these:
by Kim Barker
Published 2012
A true-life Catch-22 set in the deeply dysfunctional countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region's longest-serving correspondents.
by Khaled Hosseini
Published 2008
At once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.
.png)
A few books well chosen, and well made use of, will be more profitable than a great confused Alexandrian library.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
