The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman's Cry for Reason - Softcover

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416526234 ISBN 13: 9781416526230

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK, 2007

Synopsis

Unusual book

About this title

Review:

'This is an immensely important book, passionate, challenging, and necessary. It should be read as widely as possible, because it tells the truth -- the unvarnished, uncomfortable truth' Salman Rushdie 'Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a brilliant and courageous woman on whom Europe's liberals have collectively turned their backs. Her memoir, The Caged Virgin, is a moving testament to the power of reason and should be read by everyone who values freedom of expression higher than religious censorship, and especially by all those who don't.' Andrew Anthony, OBSERVER 'The author of THE CAGED VIRGIN has no time for lily-livered political correctness ... This is a woman of exceptional toughness and bravery. In her angry clarion call of a book, she is not afraid to question some of the most sacred tenets of Islam ... What Islam needs, she feels, is a swift does of 18th-century enlightenment -- it's time to put down the Koran and pick up Voltaire ... She writes with passion, with burning indignation ... Everyone who cares about the systematic and legalised oppression of women should study this powerful cry for reason' Kate Saunders, SUNDAY TIMES 'THE CAGED VIRGIN is Intensely felt, and filled with anger' OBSERVER 'While Hirsi Ali never holds back in her criticism of Islam, she has valid and important recommendations about improving the plight of abused Muslim women. Tackling one of the most sensitive issues of our time with provocative and passionate arguments, The Caged Virgin is, above all else, a brave book' IRISH TIMES 'The Caged Virgin is a shocking read. Ayaan Hirsi Ali rages at crimes that are done to women by men... Her fury about these crimes makes her essays vibrant and inspiring' Guardian 2/12 'Western liberals who 'blame themselves for the ills of the world' are wrong, she says: 'Withholding criticism and ignoring difference is racism in its purest form.' It is Muslims who must become more self-critical...Her book is a potent reminder of the basic freedoms we too often take for granted' Observer 11/2

Synopsis:

Raised a Muslim but increasingly outraged by her religion's hostility towards women, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has now become one of today's most talked-about, admired and controversial political figures because of her desire to free women from an oppressive Muslim culture. Her bestselling collection of essays, THE CAGED VIRGIN, now available in English for the first time, brings together some of her most passionate and compelling writing on a wide range of issues concerning Islam. Drawing on her own first-hand experience and cultural background, she assesses the role of women in Islam both in practice and in theory; the rights of the individual; fanaticism; and Western policies towards immigrant communities. Provocative and compelling in equal measure, THE CAGED VIRGIN is an important addition to the ongoing debate about the 'clash of civilizations' and marks the debut of a writer and activist destined to be one of the key international figures of the early twenty-first century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1416526234
• ISBN 13: 9781416526230
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208