Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A passionate call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation--the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope, two of our most fiercely moral voices

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it's also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

Author: Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl Wudunn
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 09/08/2009
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.43lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.66w x 1.17d
ISBN: 9780307267146

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 9.5
Point Value: 18
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 148296 / Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide


Award: Helen Bernstein Book Award - Finalist
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist
Award: Grand Canyon Reader Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2009
Booklist 07/01/2009 pg. 14
Publishers Weekly 08/17/2009 pg. 57
People Weekly 10/05/2009 pg. 40
New York Review of Books 11/19/2009 pg. 33
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/02/2009 pg. 28
People Weekly 11/16/2009 pg. 51

About the Author
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are the first married couple to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism; they won for their coverage of China as New York Times correspondents. Mr. Kristof won a second Pulitzer for his op-ed columns in the Times. He has also served as bureau chief in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, and as associate managing editor. At the Times, Ms. WuDunn worked as a business editor and as a foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Beijing. They live near New York City.


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