Kabul in Winter - by Ann Jones (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Soon after the bombs stopped falling on Kabul, award-winning journalist and women's rights activist Ann Jones set out for the shattered city. This is her trenchant report from the city where she spent the next four winters working in humanitarian aid. Investigating the city's prison for women, retraining Kabul's long-silenced English teachers, Jones enters the lives of everyday women and men and reveals through small events some big disjunctions: between the new Afghan "democracy" and the still-entrenched warlords, between American promises and performance, between what's boasted of and what is. At once angry, profound, and starkly beautiful, Kabul in Winter brings alive the people and day-to-day life of a place whose future depends upon our own.

Review Quotes

"A work of impassioned reportage, a sympathetic observer's damage assessment of a country torn apart by warlords, religious fanatics, and ill-advised superpower conflicts dating back more than a century . . . Eloquent and persuasive." --The New York Times

"[A] potent and disturbing new book." --O, The Oprah Magazine

"Often I felt a desire to thank Jones for shining a flashlight on a corner of human experience still so shrouded in shadow." --The Christian Science Monitor

"We meet many remarkable people in this angry, eloquent book, but none more remarkable than Jones herself." --Harper's

"[An] illuminating and complex book." --Entertainment Weekly

"Jones's book gathers power as it goes on . . . and some of her descriptions approach poetry." --The Washington Post

"Chilling . . . Jones's impressions are vividly rendered. . . . This achingly candid commentary brings the country's sobering truths to light." --Booklist

"Jones focuses particularly on Afghan women, whose lives are often permeated by violence. Her sharp eye and quick wit enable vivid writing." --Publishers Weekly

"A passionate--often grim--account of a country and a people trying to find peace after decades of war." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Ann Jones is the author of eight books, including Women Who Kill, Next Time She'll Be Dead, and Looking for Lovedu. An authority on women and violence, her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Nation.