audiobook A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State by Meredith Tax in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is an amazing book with so many up to date knowledge about ...By ruken buket isikThis is an amazing book with so many up to date knowledge about the Kurdish Women's Movement. It is beautifully written with a lot of references that would be helpful for scholars as well. If you want to learn about Kurds and their problems in the countries they live under in the Middle East you should definitely need this book; it will give you more than an idea!.8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. A Complete History of the Kurds.By Nick and LaurenI originally learned of the Kurdish female military from a BBC special. They fascinated me. So when this book presented itself; I eagerly requested to read it.I was disappointed. But I’ll get to why in a moment. First; the parts of Tax’s writing that are excellent. This is a thoroughly researched history of the Kurds; starting with their origins and ending with the events that took place in the summer of 2016. With exquisite detail; she takes the reader through the intricate and delicate tides of the Middle East; the constant betrayals; the shifting alliances; the war; the death; and the meddling by outside forces. Tax clearly has an analytical mind and a passion to see the story of the Kurds told to the world.Here is why it was disappointing: for a book about women fighting the Islamic State; there is so little about these brave women. Tax includes minute vignettes about women who resisted; women who engaged in the politics; and women in the military hierarchy and political counsels; and pays particular attention to the Rojava; a governmental system created and run by an egalitarian mix of men and women. But large tracts of the book deal nothing with them; but rattle on about the men and nations surrounding them. The book includes limited information about how they function in the military; their life; journeys; training; and families – but no details. Perhaps because there is so little out there – plausible because there is little about women’s experience in general but even less about women in the Middle East; and of Middle Eastern women; the Kurds are some of the least represented and least contacted group in the region. But to have so little about women in a book dedicated to that subject is misleading.One of the main complaints about history books is how the leave out the female contribution. While Tax’s book is not a history of the Kurdish female military; it is a complete history of the Kurds; because it includes the female experience. This is a complete experience. This book should not advertise itself as a book about women in the Kurdish military – but as a current history on the plight of the Kurds. If I were going to teach a class on the condition of the Kurdish people; this is text I would choose. But not for a class on women in the Kurdish nation – it simple doesn’t focus on them enough to qualify.Note: I received this book free through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Review: A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic StateBy Streeds ReadsFTC NOTICE: Free Review Copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers Program (in exchange for an honest review)REVIEW: “The year 1989 is notable for a great worldwide upsurge of fundamentalism” (25). “A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State;” by Meredith Tax; details an internationally-political and economically-driven set of events; that have culminated in a religious; cultural; gender-based situation allowing for the formation of “the patriarchal belt” (24). Activities increased for the following reasons; according to the author: “removal of Soviet state control; causing of nationalist and religious identity movements; and; globalization with its capitalist forms of organization and notions of individual liberty–wrongly defined as Western–penetrated to the most remote areas; bringing their values and media to threaten traditional male elites; who reacted violently” (25). Factors that contributed since that time involved “destabilization of the region; seductions of Western media and the freedom offered by the Internet; and success of the global woman’s movement. Its legal achievements peaked at UN conferences in the early nineties; setting off alarm bells and traditionalist enclaves from the Vatican to Saudi Arabia” (25-26).The alarm bells rang decades after a seemingly infinite series of events sparked when the Sykes-Picot Treaty and other pacts carved up Kurdistan amongst the winning; dominant world powers. This book detailed Kurdistan’s history and the United States’ rush to fill a gap as soon as the Cold War ended…selectively continuing to fight communism by aligning with Turkey; utilizing Israel as America’s proxy and conveniently finding the PKK/Kurds as being equal to the same communists previously fought; while ignoring differentiating aspects.Meredith Tax adeptly presented; and compelling supported; her positions in what I viewed as the following themes:*Revolutionary Strategies: ISIS; ISIL; Daesh*Ethnic Identity and Genocide*Tribalism and Sultanism*Totalitarian Theocracy*Globalization*Oil Politics*UN Sanctions: Challenges and Manipulations*Systemic Violence and Homicides Against Women*Hyperbolic Focus on Female Virginity*Conflict Zone Governments: Big Government vs Local Councils vs Small Communes*Jihadist Heavenly Rewards Program: A Sliding Scale*Manipulation of Western Audiences*Democratization of Iraq: A New Radical-Islamic; Anti-Female State*Recruitment Efforts and ProfilingThe reader must wonder if the aforementioned themes developed because the Kurds lived in an area resting on oil. “Iraqi Kurdistan has huge oil and gas reserves; as many as 55 billion barrels of oil; a quarter of the reserves in the whole country. Thirty-nine different oil companies from nineteen countries moved in” (98). It looked like a power-grab; regardless of the multi-faceted costs to the tribes and overall states; and; without regard to its ripple effect worldwide.“A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State;” by Meredith Tax; revealed itself to be a surprisingly-thorough; well-organized and compelling read. It should be recognized as a primer on Kurdistan and Daesh; while highlighting the challenges and accomplishments of a unique group of females that continued to fight against an internationally-misunderstood conflict with escalating; global implications. The book’s “Glossary of Organizational Names” (13); map; and photos greatly contributed to ease of reading and understanding of its contents; easily garnering the compendium a five-star rating and a spot on my “Favorites” list.