Fear was my gateway to becoming interested in stories. My nanny growing up, a Scottish expat named Jackie with a fox pelt of red hair and a manic...
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camil, January 24, 2011 (view all comments by camil)
This is a fantastic book by two authors who share a passion for social justice. This novel tugs at the heartstrings, but pushes you to act at the same time. Half the Sky does an amazing job of showing the ability of one person or a couple of people to change lives. I pick up this book when I start to feel discouraged about the state of the world because it shows me that there are people around the world who are doing incredible work to improve the life of others.
hollybarker13, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by hollybarker13)
This extraordinary book reveals the horrifying and harrowing lives of oppressed women around the world and at the same time provides hope for those same women by showing how various organizations have helped to change lives. Not only is the book uplifting, but it provides readers with information on how to contact and contribute to each organization. Krystoff really understands human nature--reading about these lives could be so bleak and depressing, yet he manages to make you feel as though you can take on all the bad in the world and triumph. A must read for everyone.
Jan Reed, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by Jan Reed)
Half the Sky gave me a feeling of hope for oppressed women, and for relief of poverty. It presented facts, personal stories and solutions with logic and proof. I highly recommend Half the Sky. It was the best book I read in 2010.
Product details
320 pages
Vintage Books USA -
English9780307387097
Reviews:
"Staff Pick"
by Michal D.,
In this thought-provoking and profoundly inspiring book, Kristof and WuDunn reveal the cruel and maddening reality faced by women who experience violence and oppression. Half the Sky will stir feelings of admiration and discomfort, and hopefully sow the seeds of humanitarian activism.
by Michal D.
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"New York Times columnist Kristof and his wife, WuDunn, a former Times reporter, make a brilliantly argued case for investing in the health and autonomy of women worldwide. 'More girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century,' they write, detailing the rampant 'gendercide' in the developing world, particularly in India and Pakistan. Far from merely making moral appeals, the authors posit that it is impossible for countries to climb out of poverty if only a fraction of women (9% in Pakistan, for example) participate in the labor force. China's meteoric rise was due to women's economic empowerment: 80% of the factory workers in the Guangdong province are female; six of the 10 richest self-made women in the world are Chinese. The authors reveal local women to be the most effective change agents: 'The best role for Americans... isn't holding the microphone at the front of the rally but writing the checks,' an assertion they contradict in their unnecessary profiles of American volunteers finding 'compensations for the lack of shopping malls and Netflix movies' in making a difference abroad. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review"
by New York Times,
"[T]his gripping call to conscience...tackles atrocities and indignities.... But the poignant portraits of survivors humanize the issues, divulging facts that moral outrage might otherwise eclipse."
"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews,
"Kristof and WuDunn forcefully contend that improving the lot of girls and women benefits everyone.... Intelligent, revealing and important."
"Review"
by Booklist,
"Kristof and WuDunn reinforce the truth behind the terrible statistics with passionately reported personal stories...including a final chapter suggesting how readers can help."
"Review"
by Susan Ager, Cleveland Plain Dealer,
"Superb....As Rachel Carson's Silent Spring once catalyzed us to save our birds and better steward our earth, Half the Sky stands to become a classic, spurring us to spare impoverished women these terrors, and elevate them to turn around the future of their nations."
"Review"
by Carolyn See, The Washington Post,
"This book isn't a sermon....These stories are electrifying and have the effect of breaking down this enormous problem into segments the reader can focus on. Suddenly, these horrendous problems begin to seem solvable....Again, this book is not a sermon about victims. Its range is wide, and sometimes it's even funny....Half the Sky is a call to arms, a call for help, a call for contributions, but also a call for volunteers. It asks us to open our eyes to this enormous humanitarian issue. It does so with exquisitely crafted prose and sensationally interesting material...I really do think this is one of the most important books I have ever reviewed."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Two Pulitzer Prize winners issue a call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world.
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
A call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world.
With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake a journey through Africa and Asia to meet an extraordinary array of women struggling under profoundly dire circumstances: a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery; an Ethiopian woman left for dead after a difficult birth; an Afghan wife beaten ruthlessly by her husband and mother-in-law. But we meet, as well, those who have triumphed — a formerly illiterate fistula patient who became a surgeon in Addis Ababa; an Indian woman who saved herself and her children from prostitution — and those who make it their work to provide hope and help to other women: the victim of gang rape who galvanized the international community and created schools in rural Pakistan; the former Peace Corps volunteer who founded an organization that educates and campaigns for women's rights in Senegal. Through their stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to progress lies in unleashing women's potential — and they make clear how each of us can help make that happen.
Fiercely moral, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.
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