From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In her opening line, Iraqi novelist (and former prisoner of Saddam Hussein) Zangana lays out this Iraq primer's unapologetic intent: "that readers in the West will gain insight into a country they have impacted so fully and terribly." With 300,000 widows in Baghdad alone, another million across the country, and thousands of women imprisoned without acknowledgement-much less hope for legal recourse-Zangana's dispatches are different from those of U.S. and Iraqi officials who, she says, claim to support "women's empowerment" while sponsoring militant sectarian forces with "barbaric ideas" about women in society. The U.S. media, according to Zangana, is happy to fall in line: by repeating the story that Iraqis are killing Iraqis by the hundreds each day, the American reflex has become to blame the victims, rather than an occupation that has deliberately dismantled the country's only ways of coping. Putting the current moment in perspective with an engaging history of women's rights in Iraq, Zangana convincingly indentifies the current Iraqi moment "a terrible state of regression." This angry, unforgiving and powerful book is as vital as it is hard to swallow. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Read more About the Author HAIFA ZANGANA is an Iraqi political commentator, novelist, and former prisoner of Saddam Hussein’s regime. She is a weekly columnist for al-Quds newspaper and a commentator for the Guardian, Red Pepper, and al-Ahram Weekly. She lives in London. Read more
J**N
REQUIRED READING ON IRAQ
Iraqi journalist and activist Haifa Zangana writes boldly about the current conditions of her homeland. The first account about occupied Iraq by an Iraqi woman, CITY OF WIDOWS provides a poignant and thorough outline to understanding the nation's intricate ethnic and political situation. Zangana's strongest arguments are those against the neo-colonial, Western "feminist" NGOs who have accompanied the US-led occupation. Groundbreaking, innovative and truthful, this book is not to be missed.
S**S
An Exceptional and Brave Book
City of Widows should be read by anyone interested in the truth of the devastating events that have occurred in Iraq. It is the only account of it's kind that shares with the public how Iraqi's are being treated by the American government, and what has occurred in the country as a result. Namely, that a country of liberated women are now struggling to survive. This is a book about a women's life as it reflects all of the women in Iraq.
P**R
Are you kidding?
I did not read this book but I heard Haifa Zangana's interview with Diane Rehm.I was absolutely flabbergasted (listen for yourself - [...]She consistently and blatantly evades uncomfortable questions (changing the subject like a seasoned politician),she refuses to say that the U.S should leave immediately (the US should only give statements regarding its intent....!?) but at the same time says that everything is the fault of the U.S.And the frosting on top was her statement that there is no Sunni-Shia conflict in Iraq (it's a US fabrication)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It was nothing more than ridiculous propaganda and lies, how could her book be believable?In short it was the usual Arab slant, nothing is our fault, we are a peace loving people (this is a quote), it's all the fault of the U.S and Israel, we are perfect, and the US is the devil.Come-on are you for real??P.S Personally I think that the occupation has turned out to be a disaster and that Bush is the worse president ever, so I'm not bashing her as a right wing republican, just as a truth seeking citizen.
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