A vital, inspiring book ( O , The Oprah Magazine ): a ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of the courageous movement that won Saudi women the right to drive.
Daring to Drive is a brave, extraordinary, heartbreakingly personal (Associated Press) celebration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a testament to how women in Muslim countries are helping change their culture, one step at a time ( New York Journal of Books )..
Manal al-Sharif\'s memoir is an eye-opening ( The Christian Science Monitor ) account of the making of an accidental activist, a vivid story of a young Muslim woman who stood up to a kingdom of men--and won.
That\'s when the Saudi kingdom\'s contradictions became too much to bear: she was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues, her school-age brother chaperoned her on a business trip, and while she kept a car in the garage, she was forbidden from driving on Saudi streets.
By her twenties Manal was a computer security engineer, one of few women working in a desert compound built to resemble suburban America.
But what a difference an education can make.
In her adolescence, she was a religious radical, melting her brother\'s boy band cassettes in the oven because music was haram : forbidden by Islamic law.
Manal Al-sharif grew up in Mecca the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year strict fundamentalism took hold.
A vital, inspiring book ( O , The Oprah Magazine ): a ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of the courageous movement that won Saudi women the right to drive
