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Guest House for Young Widows
Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS | Azadeh Moaveni
6 posts | 8 read | 19 to read
A gripping account of thirteen women who joined, endured, and, in some cases, escaped life in the Islamic Statebased on years of immersive reporting by a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Among the many books trying to understand the terrifying rise of ISIS, none has given voice to the women in the organization; but women were essential to the establishment of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis caliphate. Responding to promises of female empowerment and social justice, and calls to aid the plight of fellow Muslims in Syria, thousands of women emigrated from the United States and Europe, Russia and Central Asia, from across North Africa and the rest of the Middle East to join the Islamic State. These were the educated daughters of diplomats, trainee doctors, teenagers with straight-A averages, as well as working-class drifters and desolate housewives, and they set up makeshift clinics and schools for the Islamic homeland they envisioned. Guest House for Young Widows charts the different ways women were recruited, inspired, or compelled to join the militants. Emma from Hamburg, Sharmeena and three high school friends from London, Nour, a religious dropout from Tunis: all found rebellion or community in political Islam and fell prey to sophisticated propaganda that promised them a cosmopolitan adventure and a chance to forge an ideal Islamic community where they could live devoutly without fear of stigma or repression. It wasnt long before the militants exposed themselves as little more than violent criminals, more obsessed with power than the tenets of Islam, and the women of ISIS were stripped of any agency, perpetually widowed and remarried, and ultimately trapped in a brutal, lawless society. The fall of the caliphate only brought new challenges to women no state wanted to reclaim. Moavenis exquisite sensitivity and rigorous reporting makes these forgotten women indelible and illuminates the turbulent politics that set them on their paths. Advance praise for Guest House for Young Widows In this searing investigation, Moaveni explores the phenomenon of Muslim womenmany of them educated, successful, and outwardly Westernizedchoosing to travel to Syria in support of jihad. . . . In concise, visceral vignettes, Moaveni immerses her readers in a milieu saturated with the romantic appeal of violence. The result is a journalistic tour de force that lays bare the inner lives, motivations, and aspirations of her subjects.Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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review
Lindy
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Pickpick

Women from across the world—Europe, Africa, North America & Asia—travelled to Syria in search of a dream: an Islamic homeland. Journalist Azadeh Moaveni, with an interest in the intersection of gender & armed conflict, interviewed many. She focused on the experiences of four British high school girls plus a few others. Why did they go there? What will they do now that the caliphate has crumbled & their home countries won‘t allow them to return?

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quote
Lindy
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…a sour, salty smell wafted up from the sheep brain restaurant on the ground floor of the apartment.

AND, an almost identical phrase is in the epilogue: “a sour, salty smell wafts up from the sheep‘s brain and tripe restaurant on the ground floor of the building.” Once is enough!

Cathythoughts Once is definitely enough 🤭 5y
33 likes1 comment
blurb
Lindy
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#audiowalk home from the bakery this morning... snow and -4 C at 9 AM.

TheSpineView Brrr.... 5y
Josilas123 Geez...how did you make it through?? 5y
Lindy @TheSpineView It might look chilly but it feels warm to me after -40 last week. 😏 5y
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Lindy @Josilas123 I walked though back alleys because tire tracks made it easier than trudging through unshovelled sidewalks. (I haven‘t shovelled mine yet either; waiting for the snow to let up.) 5y
Josilas123 I‘m relieved with the fact that you are conversant with the terrain but still that doesn‘t allay my fears that walking alone through that can go sideways. P.S. shoveling snow is my bad habit. Lol. 5y
Josilas123 😍 5y
Josilas123 @Lindy is it possible to have a private conversation on this app?? There is someone I am dying to talk with. 5y
Lindy @Josilas123 No. You can post a public comment (below a post like this) with your private contact info and request that someone get in touch. After they get in touch, you can delete your comment so that your contact info doesn‘t continue to be displayed. 5y
Josilas123 @Lindy brilliant!!! You sound so smart. 5y
Lindy @Josilas123 Good luck. 5y
TheSpineView @Lindy I would never make it. We have had below freeze temps for the last 3 nights and I am so over winter already. Average this time of year is high in the mid 50s and lows around mid 30s. 5y
Lindy @TheSpineView I‘m already tired of winter too. Only three more months of it yet to go... 5y
TheSpineView @Lindy Yeah, February and March in particular seem to drag. 5y
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review
Floresj
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Pickpick

If you are a non-Muslim American, this book will work your empathetic muscles. Told from a variety of ISIS women‘s stories, you are taken on a journey from their religious beginnings to how they ended up in ISIS territory. It was possible to detest them AND have sympathy for them. I learned a lot of history and about Islam. Very good read but it makes me even MORE worried about the refugee camps and how we treat people who are different.

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review
Redwritinghood
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Pickpick

This was a well-researched and engagingly written look at why young women from many Western countries were persuaded to move to Syria and join ISIS. Like many extremist groups, young and marginalized people were persuaded by propaganda and charismatic leaders. The author tries hard to put herself in the mindset of these young women and is very sympathetic towards them, but this may be the biggest drawback of the book. 👇🏻

Redwritinghood She seemed to absolve them of their behavior rather then look deeper at individual motives. Nevertheless, it is a gripping account and inside look at the lives of some women within the ISIS organization. 4⭐️ 5y
crazyspine Love your nails 5y
LazyDays Intense topic. Great review! 5y
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iread2much This looks really fascinating! 5y
BarbaraBB Great review 5y
Nute Interesting title! Does it tie into the message of the book? I‘m stacking! 5y
Redwritinghood @Nute A little. The women whose husbands have died in the fighting are often put into group homes until they marry again. 5y
62 likes4 stack adds10 comments
review
keepingupwiththepenguins
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Pickpick

This book challenges you to see these wives of ISIS fighters as humans, not monsters, subject to the same foils as the rest of us. So many of the young people in this book were frustrated by broken promises of radical change. Are there lessons we can learn here, say, for the Climate Strikers that politicians have failed to mollify? Perhaps. Extended review for subscribers at http://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/new-releases/ #NewBooks #NonFiction

MommyWantsToReadHerBook Ooh, stacked! 5y
Cedricsmom Sounds challenging. 5y
keepingupwiththepenguins @MommyWantsToReadHerBook Fantastic! Enjoy!! ❤ ❤ ❤ 5y
keepingupwiththepenguins @Cedricsmom It certainly was, on many levels! Always uncomfortable to peer into the shades of grey... 5y
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