Page, Kate

Page, Kate

Kate Page

1 April 2009Review

Zed, 2008; ISBN 978-1842779569; 272pp; £14.99

It is now over seven years since US and British forces invaded Afghanistan. For much of this time there has been little news about the country, with the attention of the US and anti-war activists focused on Iraq. This is now changing however, and Obama has followed up his campaign pledges by committing an extra 17,000 US troops to Afghanistan. Britain enthusiastically supported this move, and is likely to increase the 9,000 UK troops already there.

In this context then, increasing our…

1 April 2008Review

Seven Stories Press, 2007; ISBN 9781583227794; 169pp; £12

There are at least three hundred thousand widows in Baghdad alone, and a further one million throughout Iraq, with their numbers rising daily. City of Widows is a timely reminder of the continuing calamitous affect of the Iraq war, particularly on Iraqi women. It interweaves Zangana's personal story of resistance, imprisonment and torture under Saddam Hussein with a history of Iraq from the early twentieth century to the present day.

The promotion of women's rights was given as a…