Zainab Salbi - Author

Author

  • Between Two Worlds Escape from Tyranny: Growing up in the Shadow of Saddam

In 2005, Zainab Salbi published her memoir Between Two Worlds{dead link}.It describes her life growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. Publishers Weekly calls Between Two Worlds "the most honest account of life within Saddam's circle so far. It's an enlightening revelation of how, by barely perceptible stages, decent people make accommodations in a horrific regime." Only 11 years old when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot, Zainab and her family were often forced to spend weekends with Saddam where he watched their every move. Her mother eventually sent Zainab to America for an arranged marriage, but the marriage that was intended to save her turned out to be another world of tyranny and abuse. Zainab started over. She forged a new identity as a champion of women survivors of war and founded Women for Women International.

Women for Women International makes an excerpt from the book available online. Excerpt from the book{dead link}

  • The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope

In 2006, Zainab Salbi wrote The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope. {dead link} Published by National Geographic, Zainab Salbi takes readers into the heart of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan to hear the stories of women who daily reclaim the lives of their families and communities from the ashes of conflict.

"War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of a child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Women survivors of war are not the single image portrayed on the television screen, but the glue that holds families and countries together. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war...we will have more humility in our discussions of wars...perhaps it is time to listen to women's side of history."

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