Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom
by John Follain, Rita Cristofari

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Book Reviews of Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom

Book Review: Peaceful revolution to change their world of violence.
Summary: 5 Stars

Zoya was educated and cared for by RAWA and by the age of 16 became an active member in this organization that reaches out to thousands of Afghan women, supporting them financially, educationally, and psychologically. Though only 23 years of age at the telling of this story, Zoya has lived far more than a lifetime. Her patriotism runs so deep it will wrench your heart. She believes that the future of her beloved Afghanistan lies in the intellects and hearts of the children, at any cost they must be educated so they can meet the needs of a democratic society in the future. Small groups of children are hidden away in safe houses where they are educated, in a country where it is in threat of death for a woman to learn and the only lessons to be given are study of the Koran.

I was appalled by the atrocities, unspeakable tortures, and hatred put forth in the name of religion and suffered by the Afghan people under the reign of the fundamentalists. Yet I was strengthened by the knowledge that there are educated people working diligently to return this country to a well-deserved peace after years of unjustifiable war at the hands of those men in power. May Allah grant their prayers and smile down upon them.

This was truly one of the best books I ever read. Accurate, and filled with a candor that leaves you with a need to do something to make this world just a little bit better. Most of all it made me realize, I should be thankful every day of my life for the freedom I have as an American. Kelsana 6/10/02

Summary of Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom

Zoya's Story is a young woman's searing account of her clandestine war of resistance against the Taliban and religious fanaticism at the risk of her own life. An epic tale of fear and suffering, courage and hope, Zoya's Story is a powerful testament to the ongoing battle to claim human rights for the women of Afghanistan.

Though she is only twenty-three, Zoya has witnessed and endured more tragedy and terror than most people do in a lifetime. Zoya grew up during the wars that ravaged Afghanistan and was robbed of her mother and father when they were murdered by Muslim fundamentalists. Devastated by so much death and destruction, she fled Kabul with her grandmother and started a new life in exile in Pakistan. She joined the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which challenged the crushing edicts of the Taliban government, and she made dangerous journeys back to her homeland to help the women oppressed by a system that forced them to wear the stifling burqa, condoned public stoning or whipping if they ventured out without a male chaperon, and forbade them from working.

Zoya is our guide, our witness to the horrors perpetrated by the Taliban and the Mujahideen "holy warriors" who had defeated the Russian occupiers. She helped to secretly film a public cutting of hands in a Kabul stadium and to organize covert literacy classes, as schooling-branded a "gateway to Hell" -- was forbidden to girls. At an Afghan refugee camp she heard tales of heartrending suffering and worked to provide a future for families who had lost everything.

The spotlight focused on Afghanistan after the New York and Washington terrorist attacks highlights the conditions of repression and fear in which Afghan women live and makes Zoya's Story utterly compelling. This is a memoir that speaks louder than the images of devastation and outrage; it is a moving message of optimism as Zoya struggles to bring the plight of Afghan women to the world's attention.

Political Books

• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Political
• Specific Groups > Women
• History > Asia > Afghanistan
• Politics
• Women's Studies