Book Report: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
The Book: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009)
The Goods: Half the Sky is both an investigation into women’s oppression worldwide and a moving call to action to economically and socially empower women in developing countries – not just because it’s the morally correct thing to do, but also because the authors believe that it’s the most effective way to fight poverty and extremism. To make their case, Pulitzer-Prize winning authors Kristof and WuDunn focus on three major issues facing women around the world — forced prostitution and sex trafficking, gender violence, and maternal mortality — blending grim reportage and ample statistics with individual stories of women who are triumphing over their circumstances and making real change for their families and communities. The authors also observe and report on the pros and cons of varied international development/aid strategies and argue that grassroots, ground-up activism and support is the most effective way to fuel change.
The Report: Thanks to the smart thinking of one of our readers, we decided to take a break from our normal fictions to read Half the Sky, and use the occasion as a fundraiser for Mercy Corps. (Hooray for reading!) Like most non-fiction, Half the Sky presents a bit of a challenge for book club discussion. We wondered: should we talk about how the book is written? Should we talk about the issues and stories covered in the book? Should we talk about our reactions to those issues and stories? In the end, our discussion was pretty far-reaching, touching a lot on comments about the methods and approach used by the authors. Many of us found ourselves invoking old, college-aged questions about cultural relativity, as well as questions about rights vs. rescue, international context, and the nearly-absent investigation into mens’ accountability, only to set aside our potential critiques in the face of the many stunning achievements of Half the Sky. Because, in the end, we all agreed: this is one powerful, moving book, and it’s all the more impressive because it’s an engaging read – at times uplifting – and it motivates the heck out of you to do something (and gives you concrete ideas about what to do). So, yes, we all had our own questions for the book, but mostly we had questions for ourselves: what shall we do and when shall we do it? That, to me, is a great measure of success for Kristof and WuDunn’s book. And so I’ll keep my recap of Half the Sky here brief, as I’d simply encourage you all to pick up a copy of it and consider donating to one of the many worthwhile aid organizations doing the critical work described in its pages.
