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The Punishment of Virtue: Walking the Frontline of the War on Terror with a Woman Who Has Made it Her Home
by: Sarah Chayes

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Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781846270765
ISBN: 1846270766
Label: Portobello Books Ltd
Manufacturer: Portobello Books Ltd
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: October 08, 2007
Publisher: Portobello Books Ltd
Studio: Portobello Books Ltd
Sales Rank: 487599

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
This work is suitable for readers of George Packer's "The Assassin's Gate", Asne Seierstad's "The Bookseller of Kabul", Christina Lamb's "The Sewing Circles of Herat", Jason Burke's "Al Qaeda", Rory Stewart's "The Places In-Between", Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell", and Azir Nafisi's "Reading Lolita In Tehran." What happens when the War on Terror media circus packs up and leaves town? Sarah Chayes has spent the past six years in Afghanistan in order to find out. Living in the old capital Kandahar, dressing like a man, and befriending the heroic Chief of Police, Akrem, she gains unparalleled access to tribal leaders, cunning warlords, jihadist insurgents and opium traders, as well as politicians, security chiefs and Pakistani Intelligence agents - all contending for power in this uniquely strategic place at a pivotal moment in its history. Hers is an urgent book, and a mesmerizingly readable story.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Insights, perspective & analysis of the Afghanistan slide back into chaos
The author shares her insights into the problems that are cascading Afghanistan back into the arms of the Taliban and their allies. She has a unique perspective by virtue of her experience as a foreign correspondent and from living and working on the ground at the grassroots level with Afghan people.

This book is "must" reading for those leaders and workers who will soon be determining US policy and practices in formulating and implementing assistance to Afghanistan and its diverse peoples.

Sarah Chayes' is clearly an advocate, not a critic. Yet she is adamant and very specific in identifying the factors contributing to the growing resurgence of the Taliban and what is critically important to do to change that.

I highly recommend this book to every ... Read More

Rating:

- Great Insight
"The Punishment of Virtue" gives the reader great insight into the political conflicts that went on in Afghanistan during the early years of US occupation. It has much relevence to what is going on today. The book also provides a brief history of the country as well as some cultural background, good book!

Rating:

- Pulitzer!
Starting and ending with the death of an honest Afgan, his friend Sarah Chayes, NPR reporter-turned Afgan activist, gives a well written, often warm, and often shocking account of the warlords, friends of Pakistan, and some-time friends of the US that made up Afganistan after the Taliban fled and before they had fully returned. The fact that a woman reporter could become friend and advisor to so many people in power in Afganistan - including, the president, several governors, several warlords, a chief of police (the murdered one), AND US Military Officers-helped to show the depth of leadership vacuum that existed. Nobody knew what to do, really, except the Warlords, and their occupation was making themselves rich and getting rid of their enemies, often with the help of the conned US Military, ... Read More

Rating:

- Fascinating insights
Sarah Chayes, an NPR journalist and an historical scholar in her own right, provides an insider's look at Afghanistan before, during, and after the Taliban regime. Many provocative parallels can be drawn by the reader to the foreign policy problems facing the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan today, for example: the primacy of tribal loyalties which supercede any national political identity, the misuse of American power to prop up questionable puppet governments, humanitarian aid which gets diverted by tribal elders to form their own militias, and the desperate economic instability which makes plundering and subsidy a way of life. In short, there appears to be an almost complete lack of cultural and anthropological understanding of the Middle East by U.S. policy makers. Whether you support ... Read More

Rating:

- Interesting but poorly written
An utterly confusing account of the war in Afghanistan. Its merit is that it gives the reader a probably realistic impression of the complexity and intransparency of Afghan politics and history...nothing is what it seems. Its flaws are chronological disorder, personal grudges and reporter-centrism...("look at me getting the real dope against all odds" and "look at me, the only sensitive observer").

Books : The Punishment of Virtue: Walking the Frontline of the War on Terror with a Woman Who Has Made it Her Home