When Blasphemy, Heresy and Apostasy are Necessary

Book review: Heretic, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Amazon / Book Depository) On ______, a group of ______ heavily armed, black-clad men burst into a ______ in ______, opening fire and killing a total of ______ people. The attackers were filmed shouting “Allahu akbar!” Speaking at a press conference, President ______ said: “We condemn this criminal act by...

Across Land and Sea, a Teenage Refugee and Her Flight from Syria

Book review: Nujeen, by Nujeen Mustafa with Christina Lamb (Amazon / Book Depository) I fell in love with Nujeen Mustafa, like many did, when Last Week Tonight host John Oliver used BBC interview clips of the teenage Syrian refugee at a way station on the Serbian-Hungarian border as she traveled to Germany with her sister. She was so sweet and...

Fight like a girl

Book review: The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg (Amazon / Book Depository) "We all have to work very hard and ignore those people who say we should not be here." So says a female Afghani politician, one of the subjects of Jenny Nordberg's eye-opening narrative nonfiction account of the practice of bacha posh in Afghanistan, The...

Out of ISIS

Book review: The Girl Who Beat Isis, by Farida Khalaf with Andrea C. Hoffmann (Amazon / Book Depository) New English translation of the memoir of a young Yazidi girl's experiences in ISIS captivity. It's horrifying stuff, but she turns out to be more of a fighter than any of the ISIS soldiers she encounters. I was...