Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots

Eight years after the Taliban was ousted from government, an insurgency rages in Afghanistan, drug barons and war lords rule the turf, and the truth remains unspoken. In Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women, author Sally Armstrong confronts unspoken truths and unravels the threads that are strangling Afghanistan's attempts to join the twenty-first century. A veteran reporter, Armstrong interviews women and girls from all walks of life, focusing on the change-makers—the women activists, journalists, politicians, and lawyers who have taken on the dangerous task of altering the status quo and yanking Afghanistan out of its primitive past. Combining the personal stories of women with the analysis of experts and the grassroots efforts of Canadians, Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots is an accurate and impassioned portrayal of the contemporary lives of women and girls in Afghanistan.