Editor-in-chief of the Canadian magazine Homemaker's, Armstrong went to Afghanistan in 1997 to search for Dr. Sima Samar, a remarkable woman famous for working underground against the Taliban by keeping schools and medical clinics open for women. After bringing this story to Canadian readers, Armstrong remained an active advocate; she's now a UNICEF representative to Afghanistan. Assuming readers know little about Afghan history, Islamic theology or the recent geopolitical alignments that enabled the Taliban's to assume power, Armstrong gives clear, readable backgrounds on these essentials. She lets Afghan women themselves describe the horrors of Taliban misogynistic rule. For Armstrong, neither Islam nor Afghan tradition were the problem; most Taliban edicts had little to do with the Koran or Islamic tradition, even if they were called "fundamentalist." Their campaign against women was a tactic in their grab for power, says Armstrong, one that played well to their largely illiterate male following. The September 11 attacks and the war on the Taliban and al Qaida have made it possible for women to leave purdah, return from refugee camps and work openly for the rebuilding of Afghan society. As Dr. Samar, now the chair of Afghanistan's Human Rights Commission, makes clear, restoring Afghan women's full civil and economic rights won't be simple. But books like this will go far to mobilize whatever international resources she finds herself needing. Armstrong walks a political tightrope in spots (some may object to the very mention of female genital mutilation), but she's taken on a righteous cause and does it justice. 20 b&w photos. (Jan. 25)
