Recommended Books by UN Watch Heroes
UN Watch is on the forefront of battling human rights abuses around the world. In doing so, we have been privileged to work closely with and befriend some of the world’s most courageous human rights activists and democracy leaders. Many of these heroic men and women have written books about their personal struggles for freedom and democracy. We are proud to present these memoirs, along with other compelling books written by UN Watch friends and colleagues.
Memoirs
PRISONER OF TEHRAN: One Woman’s Story of Survival Inside an Iranian Prisoner.
By Marina Nemat. (Free Press, 2007).
In this heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini’s brutal Islamic Revolution. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth-each of which she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness. Marina Nemat received the 2014 Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award from UN Watch, was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2013 Geneva Summit for Human Rights Democracy, 2011 Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution in New York, and 2013 Human Rights Conference at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy. Nemat also testified before the Human Rights Council on three occasions on behalf of UN Watch.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1onn4TY
Trouvez-le sur Amazon (Français): http://amzn.to/1u8LV1f
AGAINST A TIDE OF EVIL: How One Man Became the Whistleblower to the First Mass Murder of the Twenty-First Century. By Mukesh Kapila. (Mainstream Publishing, 2013).
In this no-holds-barred account, the former head of the United Nations in Sudan reveals for the first time the shocking depths of evil plumbed by those who designed and orchestrated ‘the final solution’ in Darfur.Against a Tide of Evil is a strident and passionate cri de coeur. It is the deeply personal account of one man driven to extreme action by the unwillingness of those in power to stop mass murder. It explores what empowers a man like Dr. Mukesh Kapila to stand up and be counted, and to act alone in the face of global indifference and venality. Dr. Kapila’s work was featured at UN Watch’s 2013 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1gYNmNm
BLASPHEMY: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water. By Asia Bibi and Anne-Isabelle Tollet.(Chicago Review Press, 2013).
Blasphemy tells the true heartbreaking story of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman living in Pakistan, imprisoned and sentenced to death after being accused of blasphemy after drinking water from the same well as a group of Muslim women. Ms. Bibi has now been in prison on death row for 5 years, despite urgent appeals from the Pope and others. Anne-Isabelle Tollet has testified on behalf of UN Watch urging the United Nations Human Rights Council to save Asia Bibi.
Note: the appeal of Asia Bibi was supposed to be heard yesterday, September 9th, but was delayed yet again, this time until October 16th. It is said that the judges in Pakistan keep delaying as they are afraid to free her. A provincial governor and federal cabinet minister were assassinated in 2011 for advocating on her behalf.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1kinxbK
Trouvez-le sur Amazon (Français): http://amzn.to/1rCAEZo
IN THE NAME OF HONOR: A Memoir. By Mukhtar Mai. (Washington Square Press, 2007).
In June 2002, Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman from the impoverished village of Meerwala, was gang raped by a local clan known as the Mastoi — punishment for indiscretions allegedly committed by the woman’s brother. While certainly not the first account of a female body being negotiated for honor in a family, this time the survivor had bravely chosen to fight back. In this rousing account, Mai describes her experience and how she has single-handedly changed the feminist movement in Pakistan and a beacon of hope for oppressed women around the world. Ms. Mai was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2013 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1wU4p89
Encuentra en Amazon (Español): http://amzn.to/1pzOQjQ
Trouvez-le sur Amazon (Français): http://amzn.to/1hrMaCz
UNDAUNTED: A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West. By Zoya Phan. (Atria Books, 2013).
Undaunted tells of the riveting adventures of Zoya Phan — from her unusual childhood in a fascinating remote culture in Burma, to her years on the run, to her emergence as an activist icon. Zoya has since become a powerful spokesperson against oppressors, undaunted by dangers posed to her own life. Zoya’s love of her people, their land, and their way of life fuels her determination to survive. InUndaunted, she hauntingly brings to life a lost culture and world, putting faces to the stories of the numberless innocent victims of Burma’s military. Ms. Phan was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2012 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1rCycCd
GOD GREW TIRED OF US: A Memoir. By John Bul Dau and Michael S. Sweeney. (National Geographic, 2008).
“Lost Boy” John Bul Dau’s harrowing experience surviving the brutal horrors of Sudanese civil war and his adjustment to life in modern America is chronicled in this movingly written memoir and featured in an award-winning documentary film of the same name. With touching humor, Dau recounts the shock of his tribal culture colliding with life in America. He shares the joy of reuniting with his family and the challenges of making a new life for himself while never forgetting the other Lost Boys he left behind. Dau was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2012 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1jMlZRz
Fiction
NINE DAYS. By Fred Hiatt.(Random House, 2013).
Inspired by the true story of Chinese dissident and human rights activist Ti-Anna Wang, Nine Days is a fictionalized, and captivating teenage adventure rooted in real-world situations. In this fast-paced novel set against the scenery of Hong Kong, Vietnam and the Chinese border, a young girl and her friend must overcome immense obstacles to find her kidnapped father.
In March of this year, Ti-Ana Wang created an international stir, reported in the New York Times, when China interrupted her and sent spies to harass her as she testified on behalf of UN Watch before the Human Rights Council, denouncing the human rights situation in China and the imprisonment of her father, Wang Bingzhang, one of China’s most well known political prisoners. Ms. Wang was also a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2011 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1tBwYTf
Non-Fiction
ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. By Blaine Harden.(Penguin Group, 2012).
Escape from Camp 14 tells the incredible story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person to have been born and raised in a North Korean prison camp and escape to the West. This extraordinary and harrowing tale gives unprecedented and vivid insight into the cruel and horrific realities of North Korea’s prison camps. Shin Dong-hyuk was presented UN Watch’s 2013 Moral Courage Award, and was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2013 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English):http://amzn.to/1m5B5mG
Trouvez-le sur Amazon (Français):http://amzn.to/1kALbdG
GADDAFI’S HAREM: The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power inLibya.By Annick Cojean. (Grove Press, 2013).
Soroya was just 15 when she was summoned to Gaddafi’s palatial compound near Tripolito be held as a sex slave to Colonel Gaddafi.
Gaddafi’s Harem was an instant bestseller in France where it has already sold more than 100,000 copies in hardcover.
Le Monde special correspondent Annick Cojean gives a voice to Soraya’s story, and supplements her investigation into Gaddafi’s abuses of power through interviews with people who knew Soraya, as well as with other women who were abused by Gaddafi.
The author was a featured speaker at UN Watch’s 2014 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1gYRtZE
Encuentra en Amazon (Español): http://amzn.to/1kAKPE5
Trouvez-le sur Amazon (Français): http://amzn.to/1ontrXq
MOYNIHAN’S MOMENT: America’s Fight Against Zionism as Racism.By Gil Troy. (Oxford University Press, 2012).
On November 10, 1975, the General Assembly of United Nations passed Resolution 3379, which declared Zionism a form of racism. Afterward, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Patrick Moynihan stood to speak. He pronounced his words with the rounded tones of a Harvard academic, but his voice shook with outrage: “The United States rises to declare, before the General Assembly of the United Nations, and before the world, that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.”
While the speech cost Moynihan his job, it soon won him a U.S. Senate seat and a place in the hearts of the American people. Moynihan’s Moment captures a turning point in U.S. policy, when the rhetoric began to change and a more muscular foreign policy began to find expression, a policy that continues to shape international relations to this day.
Author Gil Troy addressed the 2009 Geneva rally organized by UN Watch in response to the UN’s Durban II conference on racism. UN Watch organized two events in New York promoting Troy’s superb book.
“Gil Troy’s vivid account of the historic and intellectual drama behind Ambassador Moynihan’s clash at the U.N. carries vital lessons for today, which have never been more timely or relevant.”
— HILLEL NEUER, Executive Director of UN Watch
Find it on Amazon (English): http://amzn.to/1hQXHWR
