BARBARA VICTOR

Victor, a journalist with over 20 years' experience in the Middle East, delivers a jarring and intimate indictment of Palestinian society. The two primary crimes she charges it with are the exploitation of women and the desperate acceptance of a "culture of death." On January 27, 2002, these two factors began to overlap as Wafa Idris became the first female Palestinian suicide bomber. Victor (A Voice of Reason: Hanan Ashrawi and Peace in the Middle East) spent the next year interviewing leaders, historians, victims, psychiatrists and feminists on both sides of the Green Line. The most poignant passages come from the families of bombers-parents and siblings vacillating between grief and celebration. While she concludes that there are many ingredients in the "fatal cocktail" of suicide bombing-religious extremism, socioeconomic deprivation, nationalistic fervor and Israeli occupation-the book reserves its harshest criticism for manipulative male relatives who convince vulnerable and marginalized women to blow themselves up, and for opportunistic leaders-including Yasir Arafat-who encourage and reward such behavior. Victor is well versed in the intricacies of Palestinian politics and emotions, and her attempt to communicate her knowledge to the reader is-perhaps inevitably, given the complexity of the subject-a bit rambling, but ultimately convincing that a "misguided feminism" underlies actions like Idris's attempt to seek equality in death. Only hardened partisans (who may outnumber neutral observers, given the polarizing nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) will fail to accompany Victor on her journey from compassion to judgment. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.

There are 80 million born again Christians of voting age in the United States, including George W. Bush. Jesus Christ is a personal friend of every one of them. They know that Jesus wants them to vote Republican. Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the Evangelical Christians have constituted one of the most powerful interest groups in the USA. Their money and their energy have helped to drive a socially conservative agenda to the centre of American national life. They wield veto power over the Republican party's presidential candidates and decide the outcome of elections across vast areas of the political landscape. And they have begun to play an important role in America's foreign policy. Despite a history of robust anti-Semitism, they have built a powerful alliance with the Israeli right. From financial aid to Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories to the religious rhetoric of the War on Terror, Evangelical leaders are blithely creating a world fit for Apocalypse. Their brand of Christianity is the fastest-growing social movement in the slums of Africa and Latin America. Barbara Victor explores the changes in the American political system that evangelical Christi

El 27 de Enero de 2002 algo insólito se añadió al horror de la guerra entre Israel y Palestina: Wafa Idris fue la primera mujer árabe que buscó la muerte convirtiéndose en kamikaze. Desde entonces otras han seguido su ejemplo y el reguero de sangre parece no tener fin. Barbara Victor ha querido investigar las razones que están detrás de estos actos desesperados y para eso se ha entrevistado con los líderes religiosos y políticos de la resistencia palestina y con los familiares de esta jóvenes. Tras un año de trabajo, lo que la autora ha descubierto es la sinrazón de un mundo donde la mujer, presionada por una situación económica y social adversas, encuentra en la muerte la única forma de igualdad con el hombre, y sus allegados varones son a menudo los instigadores de este sacrificio.