Lynne S. (lds0423) reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 79 more book reviews
This is a wonderful, very powerful book. Great insight into the life 'lived' by people of the Islamic region. Everyone should read this!
Sharon D. reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 224 more book reviews
This book is truly unforgettable..invaluable to our understanding of their world, and ours...Jan Goodwin takes us behind the veil and into the hearts and minds of Islamic women. Jan Goodwin traveled through ten countries of the Islamic heartland and intereviewed hundreds of Muslim women, from professionals to peasants, from royalty to rebels. The result is an unforgettable, blistering journey into a world where women are confined, isolated, even killed for the sake of a 'code of honor' created and sealously enforced by men.
Sue B. reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 9 more book reviews
This is a powerful book that gave me great insight into the world of Islam. The author actually interviewed many Muslim women and she quotes them in the book. Her own experiences are also insightful. It made me understand a world that I previously didn't know.
Lin G. (LinG) reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 203 more book reviews
Timely and topical book about the Muslim world of the current day.
Book originally copyrighted in 1994, this revised edition updated and copyrighted 2003.
From the cover:
A New York Times Notable Book
"'Price of Honor' explains powerfully how Muslim women are affected by the rise of fundamentalism." -- Dan Rather
"Truly unforgettable. . .invaluable to our understanding of their world, and ours. . .Jan Goodwin takes us behind the veil and into the hearts and minds of Islamic women." -- Redbook
Militant Islam is changing the way millions behave and how nations are governed; its impact on women is devastating. Award-winning journalist Jan Goodwin traveled through ten Islamic countries and interviewed hundreds of Muslim women, from professionals to peasants, from royalty to rebels. The result is an unforgettable, blistering journey into a world where women are confined, even killed, for the sake of a "code of honor" created and zealously enforced by men.
This is a world where grandmothers can be whipped for showing a tiny lock of hair, rape victims are imprisoned for "fornication," doctors surgically restore hymens for brides because nonvirgins can be killed by male relatives, and American converts to Islam accept their husbands' polygamy. "Price of Honor" brings to life a world in which women have become pawns in a bitter power game. Here is a provocative look inside Muslim society--and a ringing wake-up call to the world.
"Inspired...admirable...alarming...highly informative and thoroughly researched." --Boston Book Review
"Goodwin reminds us that the Koran nowhere supports the brutal treatment of women, and the educated women she quotes make this point clear...The author takes us on a tour of the Muslim world, finding horrors almost past belief." --The New Yorker.
Book originally copyrighted in 1994, this revised edition updated and copyrighted 2003.
From the cover:
A New York Times Notable Book
"'Price of Honor' explains powerfully how Muslim women are affected by the rise of fundamentalism." -- Dan Rather
"Truly unforgettable. . .invaluable to our understanding of their world, and ours. . .Jan Goodwin takes us behind the veil and into the hearts and minds of Islamic women." -- Redbook
Militant Islam is changing the way millions behave and how nations are governed; its impact on women is devastating. Award-winning journalist Jan Goodwin traveled through ten Islamic countries and interviewed hundreds of Muslim women, from professionals to peasants, from royalty to rebels. The result is an unforgettable, blistering journey into a world where women are confined, even killed, for the sake of a "code of honor" created and zealously enforced by men.
This is a world where grandmothers can be whipped for showing a tiny lock of hair, rape victims are imprisoned for "fornication," doctors surgically restore hymens for brides because nonvirgins can be killed by male relatives, and American converts to Islam accept their husbands' polygamy. "Price of Honor" brings to life a world in which women have become pawns in a bitter power game. Here is a provocative look inside Muslim society--and a ringing wake-up call to the world.
"Inspired...admirable...alarming...highly informative and thoroughly researched." --Boston Book Review
"Goodwin reminds us that the Koran nowhere supports the brutal treatment of women, and the educated women she quotes make this point clear...The author takes us on a tour of the Muslim world, finding horrors almost past belief." --The New Yorker.
Sheryl L. reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 16 more book reviews
very eye opening
Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 1444 more book reviews
Mostly, this book is depressing, and unlikely to change anyone's mind about religion in general, or Islam in particular.
If you believe Islam is a religion of peace which instructs its adherents to treat women with respect, you will find support for that belief. If you believe fundamentalist Islams are interpreting the Koran to meet their own needs, and that women are disrespected, abused, and debased under it, you will find support for that belief. If you believe that organized religion in general is a massive scam perpetrated on the ignorant, the disenfranchised, and the easily influenced, you will find support for that belief.
Goodwin traveled through 10 Muslim countries in the Middle East in preparation for the book, studying the religious and political situation at the end of the 20th century, and interviewed dozens of Muslim women, from reformers to devout, privileged and destitute, native-born to Islam and former Christian converts. The story that emerges is appalling, disturbing, and intensely disheartening.
If you believe Islam is a religion of peace which instructs its adherents to treat women with respect, you will find support for that belief. If you believe fundamentalist Islams are interpreting the Koran to meet their own needs, and that women are disrespected, abused, and debased under it, you will find support for that belief. If you believe that organized religion in general is a massive scam perpetrated on the ignorant, the disenfranchised, and the easily influenced, you will find support for that belief.
Goodwin traveled through 10 Muslim countries in the Middle East in preparation for the book, studying the religious and political situation at the end of the 20th century, and interviewed dozens of Muslim women, from reformers to devout, privileged and destitute, native-born to Islam and former Christian converts. The story that emerges is appalling, disturbing, and intensely disheartening.
Lenka S. reviewed Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World on + 823 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Spurred by her experiences as a young girl's mentor in Pakistan, American journalist Goodwin ( Caught in the Crossfire ) here surveys 10 countries in the Islamic world, interviewing hundreds of women and many men, concluding that the treatment of women is a barometer of the twin forces of modernity and Islamic extremism. Her book is solidly researched (she relates that Islam originally enhanced women's rights) and stylishly written, though her dependence on long quotes makes a few sections ponderous. Some of her stories are shocking: the sad fate of a girl bartered in marriage at age 11; the sexual abuse in jail of numerous women in Pakistan arrested for sex outside marriage ; the death threat against a Jordanian television commentator who criticized a smear campaign against women. Goodwin's account also includes thoughtful interviews with an Afghan resistance leader trying to use Islam to fight fundamentalism and an American-educated woman in the United Arab Emirates trying to balance freedom and faith. Goodwin suggests that the United States, overly dependent on imported oil, should beware of Islam's growing fundamentalism.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this astonishing book, the product of four years of living in the Islamic world, journalist Goodwin ( Caught in the Crossfire , LJ 3/15/82) examines the movement that is aggressively spreading a fundamentalist version of Islam throughout much of the world. Her interviews with Muslim women in ten countries both fascinate and disturb, for their candor reveals the movement's profound and often devastating effects on them. Maintaining that Muslims understand the West far better than Westerners understand Islam, Goodwin warns against the Western ethnocentrism that could jeopardize both security and energy resources. Instead, she urges greater understanding of "the world's fastest growing religion" and of its treatment of women, who "are the wind sock showing which way the wind is blowing in the Islamic world"--or as one interviewee put it, "the canaries in the mines." The work itself enhances this understanding. A necessary purchase.
Spurred by her experiences as a young girl's mentor in Pakistan, American journalist Goodwin ( Caught in the Crossfire ) here surveys 10 countries in the Islamic world, interviewing hundreds of women and many men, concluding that the treatment of women is a barometer of the twin forces of modernity and Islamic extremism. Her book is solidly researched (she relates that Islam originally enhanced women's rights) and stylishly written, though her dependence on long quotes makes a few sections ponderous. Some of her stories are shocking: the sad fate of a girl bartered in marriage at age 11; the sexual abuse in jail of numerous women in Pakistan arrested for sex outside marriage ; the death threat against a Jordanian television commentator who criticized a smear campaign against women. Goodwin's account also includes thoughtful interviews with an Afghan resistance leader trying to use Islam to fight fundamentalism and an American-educated woman in the United Arab Emirates trying to balance freedom and faith. Goodwin suggests that the United States, overly dependent on imported oil, should beware of Islam's growing fundamentalism.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this astonishing book, the product of four years of living in the Islamic world, journalist Goodwin ( Caught in the Crossfire , LJ 3/15/82) examines the movement that is aggressively spreading a fundamentalist version of Islam throughout much of the world. Her interviews with Muslim women in ten countries both fascinate and disturb, for their candor reveals the movement's profound and often devastating effects on them. Maintaining that Muslims understand the West far better than Westerners understand Islam, Goodwin warns against the Western ethnocentrism that could jeopardize both security and energy resources. Instead, she urges greater understanding of "the world's fastest growing religion" and of its treatment of women, who "are the wind sock showing which way the wind is blowing in the Islamic world"--or as one interviewee put it, "the canaries in the mines." The work itself enhances this understanding. A necessary purchase.
