Our Women on the Ground

men.

Consider those numbers for a moment: eighty dead men meant eighty new widows and dozens of newly fatherless children. Every day. That meant that each week, more than five hundred Iraqi women suddenly became the sole providers for their families, setting their own devastation aside to keep their children fed and housed. They sold their wedding gold to buy bread. They felt like burdens on the extended families who took them in.

At their most desperate, some women entered into so-called temporary marriages that weren't intended to last long. Essentially, these marriages were prostitution with a thin religious veneer: men with money to spare would pay the women in exchange for sex, but because the couple was technically "married," however briefly, the arrangement was deemed legitimate according to some Shi'a Islamic rulings.

A widow named Nisreen told me her hands shook and her face reddened with shame when she signed a temporary marriage contract in exchange for fifteen dollars a month plus groceries and clothes for her five children.

"My son calls me a bad woman, a prostitute. My children have no idea I did this for their sake," Nisreen said.

Before I first traveled to Iraq in the summer of 2003, I read an article in Rolling Stone in which a U.S. military officer marveled at the toughness of Iraqi women and mused that the advance might not have been so easy had U.S. forces faced the country's women. It was a comment meant to emasculate the men as much as it praised the women, and I would hear many versions of it when I was around U.S. troops.

Even in the Middle East, where there is no shortage of heartache, Iraqi women are known to be particularly tough. The guttural Iraqi accent only underlines that reputation. Nelly, a chain-smoking, melodramatic Egyptian hairdresser in Baghdad, once whispered to me that Iraqi women were the region's most beautiful-until they opened their mouths.

I observed that tough exterior in hundreds of Iraqi women I met ov

conflict to get at the truth.
Refinery29

Remarkable [and] illuminating.
Booklist (starred review)

[A] timely and affecting collection . . . [that] will appeal greatly to readers interested in global women s issues, journalism, and the modern Arab world. . . . Heartrending and deeply humanistic.
Library Journal (starred review)

Offering a blend of memoir, war reporting, cultural commentary, history, and politics, these powerful essays deliver insightful analysis.
Publishers Weekly

These stories from the field are rare and remarkable. . . . A timely, engaging work that reveals why the journalist s profession is so important and so endangered.
Kirkus

Powerful [and] essential.  
BookPage

Candid, evocative and above all, daring.  
Harper's Bazaar Arabia

[A] pioneering collection . . . Journalism at its most honest and reflective.
The Arts Desk

Provides an intimate glimpse into the courage and pressures bearing on the determined women who report on their own homelands.  
Chatham House

Inspiring and extraordinary.
Stylist

A beautiful book of gripping and illuminating essays.
America Magazine

A compelling and gripping read.
Middle East Monitor

A revelation.
The National

Out of the gloom of the Middle East, this book brims with new voices Arab women reporting on their world as no one else has seen it. A terrific read, full of insight and surprise.
David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Billion Dollar Spy

This astounding, affecting collection offers a sweeping panorama of the contemporary Arab experience. . . . Rich with understanding and sincere emotional connection.
Megan K. Stack, author of Women s Work

A remarkable book that fills a tremendous gap . . . The voices of these trailblazing women are even more vital today.
Hassan Hassan, New York Times bestselling co-author of ISIS

A dazzling book that elegantly demonstrates how to tell stories with humility, affection, and truthfulness.  
Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad and Guest House for Young Widows

Stark and haunting. I loved this book. . . . A must-read.
Janine di Giovanni, author of The Morning They Came for Us

With steely courage and pens of fire, these sahafiyat Arab female journalists tell the stories of their countries conflicts, providing rigor, depth and insight few outside commenters could match.
Molly Crabapple, co-author and illustrator of Brothers of the Gun and author of Drawing Blood

The journalists in this book have demonstrated the highest professional achievements and courage. . . . Without them, the stories of today and tomorrow will remain only partly told.
Christiane Amanpour, from the Foreword