Interested in learning more about the countries we work in and the country in which your sister lives?
Check out our Recommended Reading list. Whether fiction or non-fiction, these books all shed light on the life, culture or historical circumstances of the women in our progam.
Afghanistan
A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan by Nelofer Pariza
An excellent first-hand account of the life of an Afghan woman growing
up in Kabul during the Soviet occupation.
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
An intimate portrait of the lives of Afghan citizens living under
fundamentalist Islam.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A coming-of-age novel set amidst the political turmoil of 1960’s
Afghanistan.
Letters from Afghanistan by Eloise Hanner
Letters from a Peace Corps member in Afghanistan to her mother
in the United States. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart
The author walks from Herat to Kabul in 2002. Though he barely
talks about the women that he encounters, it lends some insight to
life in rural Afghanistan.
The Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb
Expelled from Afghanistan by the Taliban for her reporting, award-
winning British journalist Lamb returned after the September 11
attacks to observe the land and its people firsthand. Through
interviews with locals, Lamb paints a vivid picture of Taliban rule
and offers a broader sense of life devastated by two decades of
war. Veiled Courage: Inside the Afghan Women's Resistance by Cheryl Benard
A book about the Afghan women associated with Revolutionary
Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which discusses
women's attempts to oppose the fundamentalism of the Taliban.
Women for Afghan Women by Sunita Mehta
This collection traces the history of Afghan women's rights and
roles through the latter decades of the last century.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nowhere Man by Aleksander Hemon
A coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the Yugoslavian
conflict.
S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
The journalist Slavenka Drakulic uses a fictional everywoman, S., to
convey the complex psychological torture of the victims of large-
scale, systematic rape during the Bosnian War.
Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95 by Joe Sacco
A graphic novel that looks at the war in Bosnia, with special
focus on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by
Bosnian Serbs during the war.
This Was Not Our War by Swanee Hunt
Hunt presents the testimony of 26 women who survived Bosnia’s
political upheavals.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hoschild
A compelling history of the Congo.
Iraq
Please check back for suggested reading.
Kosovo
War Cake by Linda Beekman
The author's experiences while working as a volunteer pursuing
peace in war-torn Sarajevo. The book focuses not on politics but on
the struggles of everyday life and ordinary people who were caught
in the war and how they survived.
Nigeria
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
A magical-realist take on the life of a child growing up in Nigeria.
The Slave Girl by Buchi Emecheta
An exploration of the Ibo culture in relation to female slavery in
British colonial Nigeria.
Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila
A series of vignettes about life under the repressive Abacha
regime.
Rwanda
Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda by Rosamond Halsey Carr
A memoir spanning 50 years of a woman who lived in Rwanda,
before and after the genocide.
Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges
A comprehensive history of the conflict in Rwanda.
The Rwanda Crisis by Gerard Prunier
Shake Hands with The Devil: The Future of Humanity in Rwanda by Commander Romeo Dallaire
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families - Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
Gourevitch is a staff writer for the New Yorker and writes about his
encounters with many different Rwandese to try and learn more
about the causes and effects of the 1994 genocide.
Sudan
What is the What by Dave Eggers
A fictional memoir about a “lost boy” who leaves his home in
southern Sudan for refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, and later
comes to America.
Emma’s War by Deborah Scroggins
The story of the civil war in southern Sudan using the life of a
British aid worker as a focal point.
General
The Key to My Neighbor’s House by Elizabeth Neuffer
Neuffer interviews victims and perpetrators of the Bosnian and
Rwandan tragedies with a focus on justice after the violence has
subsided.
Persepolis by Maryjane Satrapi
A graphic novel that details the author’s life as a child and teenager
during and after the Iranian revolution.
Women in Islamic Societies: Social Attitudes and Historical Perspectives by Bo Utas, ed.
A somewhat dated collection of academic anthropology articles
about women in various predominately Muslim countries. The
article on Kosova was particularly interesting.
Suggested Films
Calling the Ghosts, distributed by "Women Make Movies" at (212) 925-0606, or at www.wmm.com.
A first-person account of two women who survived a concentration
camp during the war in Bosnia.
Forsaken Cries, available from Amnesty USA, www.amnestyusa.org.
A documentary examining the genocide in Rwanda as a case study of the
human rights challenges of the 21st century.
Hotel Rwanda
The story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital
of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death
during the genocidal clash.
My Country, My Country, directed by Laura Poitras
Documentary of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation prior to the January
2005 elections.
Osama
The first movie produced by Afghan filmmakers after the fall of the
Taliban, Osama is a searing portrait of life under the oppressive
fundamentalist regime. Because women are not allowed to work, a widow
disguises her young daughter as a boy so they won't starve to death.
Rwanda: Do The Scars Ever Fade?
An account of the Rwandan genocide.
Sometimes in April
The protagonist pieces together the past tragedy from the perspective of
a decade-later war-crimes tribunal, where his brother is on trial for the
1994 Rwandan genocide.
Welcome to Sarajevo, directed by Michael Winterbottom
Based on the experience of a British journalist in Sarajevo during the war.
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