Book review: Guest House for Young Widows, by Azadeh Moaveni (Amazon / Book Depository) She looked at the girls in the shadows of the backseat, as they drove past grain silos whose towering outlines were visible in the dark. How little they knew what awaited them. They would soon find out that the caliphate ruled... Continue Reading →
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Essays on Women and Islam #WITMonth
Book review: The Caged Virgin, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Amazon / Book Depository) Any Muslim who asks critical questions about Islam is immediately branded a "deserter." A Muslim who advocates the exploration of sources for morality, in addition to those of the Prophet Muhammad, will be threatened with death, and a woman who withdraws from... Continue Reading →
Light Recollections of Growing Up Arab in America
Book review: The Wrong End of the Table, by Ayser Salman (Amazon / Book Depository) If you've ever felt like you've been at the wrong end of the table - whether you were born in an Iraqi dictatorship or hail from Lexington, Kentucky - this is for you. Though I can't speak for all of... Continue Reading →
The Rain Began with a Single Drop
Book review: Daring to Drive, by Manal al-Sharif Book Depository It is an amazing contradiction: a society that frowns on a woman going out without a man; that forces you to use separate entrances for universities, banks, restaurants, and mosques; that divides restaurants with partitions so that unrelated males and females cannot sit together; that... Continue Reading →
Literary Journalism Explores the Why of Young Women’s Radicalization
Book review: Two Sisters, by Asne Seierstad One October day in 2013, Somali-born Norwegian sisters Ayan and Leila (pseudonyms) left a note explaining their intentions, then boarded a flight from Oslo, beginning a journey that led them to a border town in southern Turkey. From there, they crossed into Syria, choosing to live in terrorist-controlled... Continue Reading →
Jihad, Choices, and Fearless Journalism
Book review: I Was Told to Come Alone, by Souad Mekhennet (Amazon / Book Depository) Sometimes a reporter is simply lucky enough to pick the right restaurant for tea. That's one way journalist Souad Mekhennet, a contributor to the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, and a veritable force in modern journalism, describes her experience in 2001, listening... Continue Reading →
When Blasphemy, Heresy and Apostasy are Necessary
Book review: Heretic, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Amazon / Book Depository) On ______, a group of ______ heavily armed, black-clad men burst into a ______ in ______, opening fire and killing a total of ______ people. The attackers were filmed shouting “Allahu akbar!” Speaking at a press conference, President ______ said: “We condemn this criminal act by... Continue Reading →
Iran’s Culinary Culture and the Appeal of the Temporary Marriage
Book review: The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Food and Love in Iran (Amazon / Book Depository) Published in 2014 in the UK, Australian, and New Zealand markets, Jennifer Klinec's Iranian food and romance memoir The Temporary Bride will be published on Valentine's Day in the U.S. Klinec abandons a financially secure career in London to open a cooking... Continue Reading →