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My Journey in Love, Faith and Politics
by Humaira Awais Shahid with Kelly Horan
In the fall of 2001, a newlywed English professor took on a job editing the "women's section" of one of Pakistan's leading Urdu newspapers. She soon transformed pages of celebrity gossip and fashion advice into a vehicle for the investigation of the true lives of Pakistani women. News of acid attacks on hapless women, the trading of girls as currency in tribal disputes, and other abuses transformed this young mother into a fiery advocate for women's rights - one guided by Islamic ethics and ideals of social justice as she taught rural leaders to distinguish between religion and tribal custom. Her commitment to her countrywomen led her to a seat in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, where she fought to protect women, girls, and the poor.
Humaira Awais Shahid's extraordinarily warm and passionate voice provides remarkable insight into how Islamic values and ethics might yet be a vehicle for progressive change in the developing world.
"A poignant story of a happy partnership that encouraged one Pakistani woman to face her oppressors." - Kirkus
This information about Devotion and Defiance was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Humaira Awais Shahid is a journalist and a two-term member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab. She lives in Lahore, Pakistan.
Kelly Horan is a writer and award-winning public radio producer. She lives in Boston.
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