An American Bride in Kabul

An American Bride in Kabul
Author: Phyllis Chesler
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1137365579

Few westerners will ever be able to understand Muslim or Afghan society unless they are part of a Muslim family. Twenty years old and in love, Phyllis Chesler, a Jewish-American girl from Brooklyn, embarked on an adventure that has lasted for more than a half-century. In 1961, when she arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, authorities took away her American passport. Chesler was now the property of her husband's family and had no rights of citizenship. Back in Afghanistan, her husband, a wealthy, westernized foreign college student with dreams of reforming his country, reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler found herself unexpectedly trapped in a posh polygamous family, with no chance of escape. She fought against her seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family's attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband's wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth. Drawing upon her personal diaries, Chesler recounts her ordeal, the nature of gender apartheid—and her longing to explore this beautiful, ancient, and exotic country and culture. Chesler nearly died there but she managed to get out, returned to her studies in America, and became an author and an ardent activist for women's rights throughout the world. An American Bride in Kabul is the story of how a naïve American girl learned to see the world through eastern as well as western eyes and came to appreciate Enlightenment values. This dramatic tale re-creates a time gone by, a place that is no more, and shares the way in which Chesler turned adversity into a passion for world-wide social, educational, and political reform.

Kabul Beauty School

Kabul Beauty School
Author: Deborah Rodriguez
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2007-04-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1588366073

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–as doctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea was born. With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning but sometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers, overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challenges of a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her students to become their families’ breadwinners by learning the fundamentals of coloring techniques, haircutting, and makeup. Yet within the small haven of the beauty school, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts: the newlywed who faked her virginity on her wedding night, the twelve-year-old bride sold into marriage to pay her family’s debts, the Taliban member’s wife who pursued her training despite her husband’s constant beatings. Through these and other stories, Rodriguez found the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style. With warmth and humor, Rodriguez details the lushness of a seemingly desolate region and reveals the magnificence behind the burqa. Kabul Beauty School is a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.

Afghanistan Rising

Afghanistan Rising
Author: Faiz Ahmed
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2017-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674971949

Debunking conventional narratives of Afghanistan as a perennial war zone and the rule of law as a secular-liberal monopoly, Faiz Ahmed presents a vibrant account of the first Muslim-majority country to gain independence, codify its own laws, and ratify a constitution after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Afghanistan Rising illustrates how turn-of-the-twentieth-century Kabul--far from being a landlocked wilderness or remote frontier--became a magnet for itinerant scholars and statesmen shuttling between Ottoman and British imperial domains. Tracing the country's longstanding but often ignored scholarly and educational ties to Baghdad, Damascus, and Istanbul as well as greater Delhi and Lahore, Ahmed explains how the court of Kabul attracted thinkers eager to craft a modern state within the interpretive traditions of Islamic law and ethics, or shariʿa, and international norms of legality. From Turkish lawyers and Arab officers to Pashtun clerics and Indian bureaucrats, this rich narrative focuses on encounters between divergent streams of modern Muslim thought and politics, beginning with the Sublime Porte's first mission to Afghanistan in 1877 and concluding with the collapse of Ottoman rule after World War I. By unearthing a lost history behind Afghanistan's founding national charter, Ahmed shows how debates today on Islam, governance, and the rule of law have deep roots in a beleaguered land. Based on archival research in six countries and as many languages, Afghanistan Rising rediscovers a time when Kabul stood proudly as a center of constitutional politics, Muslim cosmopolitanism, and contested visions of reform in the greater Islamicate world.

An American Bride in Kabul

An American Bride in Kabul
Author: Phyllis Chesler
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0230342213

A modern American woman reveals how her long-ago ordeal in a harem in Afghanistan led her to become a feminist leader and a legendary crusader for universal women's and human rights

One Step at a Time!

One Step at a Time!
Author: Sara Y. Aharon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2018-09
Genre: Butterflies
ISBN: 9780692058671

"Emma is a little girl who doesn't just like butterflies--she LOVES them! And so Emma is thrilled when her brand new class pet is Belle the Butterfly! But when Emma makes a mistake and has to overcome her fears, can she learn to be bounce back and be brave? All she has to do is take...one step at a time!"--Author's website.

Tales from Afghan History

Tales from Afghan History
Author: Aasma S.
Publisher: My First Picture Book Inc
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2024-09-02
Genre: History
ISBN:

📚 Tales from Afghan History - Heroic Tales and Cultural Legends for Kids 🌟 ✨ Explore the heroic and inspiring tales of Afghanistan's rich history, specially adapted for young minds. ✨ Are you searching for an engaging way to introduce your child to the fascinating history and cultural legends of Afghanistan? Look no further! "Tales from Afghan History - Heroic Tales and Cultural Legends for Kids" is a beautifully crafted collection that brings the legendary heroes and pivotal moments of Afghan history to life through captivating narratives and stunning illustrations. 📖 Book Highlights 📖 200+ pages of enthralling stories that will keep your child captivated for hours. Beautiful illustrations accompanying each tale, sparking imagination and bringing the stories to life. Simplified English and gentle language carefully adapted to ensure the stories are both understandable and enjoyable for young readers. 🌟 Featured Stories 🌟 📜 Ferdowsi: The Poet of Kings — Experience the grandeur of royal courts with a poet who immortalized heroes. 🌙 Jalaluddin Rumi: Beginnings of a Poet — Explore the story of one of the most cherished mystical poets in history. 🚀 The Astronaut from Afghanistan — Reach for the stars with Afghanistan’s very own pioneer of space. 🛫 Meena Kamal and Niloofar Rahmani — Meet the women who dared to dream big and flew beyond the boundaries of expectation. Each story in this collection has been thoughtfully adapted to ensure young readers can appreciate the messages without encountering harsh language or complex concepts. These tales are perfect for bedtime reading, classroom storytime, or family discussions, helping children to develop a strong sense of cultural heritage and moral values. Introduce your child to the rich tapestry of Afghan stories, filled with lessons of bravery, wisdom, and enduring spirit. This book is not just a collection of stories; it's a treasure trove of cultural and moral guidance, ideal for growing up with a strong sense of identity and ethical principles. Perfect for bedtime reading and family bonding, this book will be a cherished addition to your child's library.

Koh-i-Noor

Koh-i-Noor
Author: William Dalrymple
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1635570778

From the internationally acclaimed and bestselling historians William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, the first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, arguably the most celebrated jewel in the world. On March 29, 1849, the ten-year-old leader of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the center of the British fort in Lahore, India. There, in a formal Act of Submission, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company swathes of the richest land in India and the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond, otherwise known as the Mountain of Light. To celebrate the acquisition, the British East India Company commissioned a history of the diamond woven together from the gossip of the Delhi Bazaars. From that moment forward, the Koh-i-Noor became the most famous and mythological diamond in history, with thousands of people coming to see it at the 1851 Great Exhibition and still more thousands repeating the largely fictitious account of its passage through history. Using original eyewitness accounts and chronicles never before translated into English, Dalrymple and Anand trace the true history of the diamond and disperse the myths and fantastic tales that have long surrounded this awe-inspiring jewel. The resulting history of south and central Asia tells a true tale of greed, conquest, murder, torture, colonialism, and appropriation that shaped a continent and the Koh-i-Noor itself.

Beyond the Silk Roads

Beyond the Silk Roads
Author: Magnus Marsden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2021-09-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1108976506

Small-scale traders play a crucial role in forging Asian connectivity, forming networks and informal institutions separate from those driven by nation-states, such as China's Belt and Road Initiative. This ambitious study provides a unique insight into the lives of the mobile traders from Afghanistan who traverse Eurasia. Reflecting on over a decade of intensive ethnographic fieldwork, Magnus Marsden introduces readers to a dynamic yet historically durable universe of commercial and cultural connections. Through an exploration of the traders' networks, cultural and religious identities, as well as the nodes in which they operate, Marsden emphasises their ability to navigate Eurasia's geopolitical tensions and to forge transregional routes that channel significant flows of people, resources, and ideas. Beyond the Silk Roads will interest those seeking to understand contemporary iterations of the Silk Road within the context of geopolitics in the region. This title is also available as Open Access.

Sparks Like Stars

Sparks Like Stars
Author: Nadia Hashimi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0063008300

“Suspenseful…emotionally compelling. I found myself eagerly following in a way I hadn’t remembered for a long time, impatient for the next twist and turn of the story."—NPR An Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low. Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan’s thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president, and Sitara’s beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s entire family. Only she survives. Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new name—Aryana Shepherd—and throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured. New York, 2008: Thirty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryana’s world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination room—a man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryana’s fury and desire for answers—and, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabul—a battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Taliban—and through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost. Bold, illuminating, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, Sparks Like Stars is a story of home—of America and Afghanistan, tragedy and survival, reinvention and remembrance, told in Nadia Hashimi’s singular voice.