BATYA SWIFT YASGUR is a prize-winning freelance writer. She is the author of America: A Freedom Country, a study of asylum seekers, the project through which she met Hala. She has written numerous short stories and young adult novels, and is the co-author of Women at Risk, a book about the HPV virus and cervical disease.

"This memoir from two sisters who fled Afghanistan 20 years apart distinguishes itself from the spate of books about women in similar circumstances by the sheer breadth of its coverage…" (Publisher's Weekly, September 30, 2002)

PRAISE FOR BEHIND THE BURQA

"Whenever and wherever adults make war, children die and women are subjected to fear and humiliation. This is true of Afghanistan too. Read this harrowing book. The tragic yet heroic tale of two women is told with great simplicity. They will haunt you."
-Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

"The stories of Sulima and Hala achingly articulate the twin and enduring legacies of misogyny and violence. A critical historical document, Behind the Burqa ultimately reveals the unbreakable strength of Afghan women."
-Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
Founder and Artistic Director, V-Day

"Behind the Burqa provides important information about conditions in Afghanistan, as well as the plight of asylum-seekers in the United States. I highly recommend this book to all people who are concerned about human rights, both at home and abroad."
-Senator Sam Brownback (R. Kansas)
Ranking member, Immigration Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary

"This book is a gripping reading experience, and it also offers important suggestions for those who would like to participate in making our asylum policies more humane."
-Eleanor Acer, Director, Asylum Program, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights

"This book shows the injustices suffered by innocent women seeking asylum in the U.S. and the power of religious faith to provide hope and courage even in prison."
-Fauziya Kassindja, author of Do They Hear You When You Cry

"Sulima and Hala epitomize the worldwide struggle of women for equality and justice. Their story is gripping and illuminating."
-Jessica Neuwirth, President of Equality Now

READER REVIEWS

A reviewer, A once religious man, November 6, 2002,
Growing Up Religious
I am a man who comes from a very religious background. I can identify with these sisters and the harsh treatment they received at the hands of fundamentalists. I also felt entrapped in my own environment. It's intereseting that one sister chose to break with Islam while the other found comfort in Islam and remained a religious Muslim. I have a lot of respect for both of them.

A reviewer, an Afghan woman, October 31, 2002,
Powerful and Real and True
I am Afghan. This book moved me. It came from my country. My culture. It showed history more than other memoirs. It can make Americans understand what we went through as Afghan women. What we still go through. The book made me cry. It was real and true to history. Sulima and Hala's story is my story. And the story of my mother and my grandmother and my sisters and my cousins.

A reviewer, A lover of music and poetry, October 31, 2002,
AMAZING WOMEN
I was awed by the two sisters in this book. I admire their courage and creativity, especially how Hala used music, poetry and prayer to survive the dangers posed by the Mujihaddin, the imprisonment imposed by the Taliban and her detention in the U.S. She comes across as a beautiful human being.

A reviewer, a social worker who loves memoirs, October 31, 2002,
STAGGERING
I read memoirs because they add a dimension to my understanding of human reactions to trauma, which helps me work with clients. This was one of the best I've ever read---amazingly suspenseful, but it had the bonus of also being quite informative. It really brought me into the inner world and consciousness of two very different women, each reacting in her own unique way to terrible circumstances. I felt I was truly living their story together with them

A reviewer, an avid reader of women's stories, October 28, 2002,
It's everything a good book should be
BEHIND THE BURQA has got it all——chair-gripping suspense, social and humanitarian value, educational and historical material. I sat glued to the book from beginning to end. It is wonderful.