Daring to Drive
The young Saudi woman who stood up to a kingdom of men
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4.5 • 24 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A visceral coming-of-age tale from the young woman who dared to stand up to a kingdom of men. Best known for her campaign work for women's rights, including the Women2Drive campaign, this is Manal al-Sharif's fiercely intimate memoir.
'Future generations will marvel at Manal al-Sharif. Her gripping account of homegrown courage will speak to the fighter in all of us. Books like this one can change the world' Deborah Feldman, New York Times bestselling author of Unorthodox
'Manal al-Sharif is following in a long tradition of women activists around the world who have put themselves on the line to expose and challenge discriminatory laws and policies' Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International News
Manal al-Sharif was born in Mecca the year fundamentalism took hold in Saudi Arabia. As a young girl she would burn her brother's boy band CDs in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law.
By her twenties she was a computer security engineer. But as she became older, the unequal way in which women are treated became too much to bear: she was branded a slut for talking to male colleagues at work; her school-age brother had to chaperone her on business trips and, while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down Saudi streets.
Her personal rebellion began the day she got behind the wheel of a car: an act that ultimately led to her arrest and imprisonment. Manal's Women2Drive campaign inspired other women to take action. Manal has been lauded by the Oslo Freedom Forum, described by Time Magazine as one of the most 100 most influential people in the world, and she was awarded the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent.
Daring to Drive is an account of Manal al-Sharif’s fight for equality in an unequal society. It is also a celebration of resilience, the power of education and the strength of female solidarity in the face of hardship.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Daring to Drive is the powerful and mortifying account of an astonishing woman. Manal al-Sharif is a university educated, former religious radical and computer security engineer who began a defiant social movement in Saudi Arabia after daring to drive a car. She carefully moves the story between her eventful adolescence and horrifying arrest, painting a devastating, unvarnished picture of her homeland. Her gripping writing shines a light on both her strength of character and the struggle still faced by millions.
Customer Reviews
More than inspiring!
Thank you so much Manal, for your amazing courage to speak out and stay true to yourself.
Your story is both uplifting and confronting . It has been a big reminder to me of how important my freedom is.
Even though I live in a different culture I feel connected to you as a woman.
Congratulations on all that you have achieved, even though you have had to give up so much as you did it.
May you have peace, joy and success in your future.
A sad but very true story of women's lives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Well done Manal for writing this book. For us in the western world we take a lot of things for granted. I was one of those foreigners who worked in Saudi Arabia for a short period of time. It's a real eye opener when you see and learn of what little rights the Saudi women have.
You were extremely brave challenging the Kingdoms regime and extreme beliefs. Whilst reading your book I was at times angry at the treatment you and at others received and at times it made me smile.
The book bought back memories of my time working in Saudi. I heard about the imprisonment of women for complaining about not being paid by their Saudi employers and much worse.
The hospital where I worked collected toiletries that were given to foreigners that had been housed in a 'safe house'. Usually Philipino girls. These girls came to Saudi to work, had their passports confiscated by their host families, were abused, raped and treated inhumanly. So of whom chose to attempt suicide rather than endure their lives.
I was nervous reading about Manal driving and turned each page with trepidation. I'm so glad her father was able to secure her release.
For all women I urge you to read this book. It's an accurate picture of how Saudi women live their lives. In our modern world these poor women are still enduring this treatment Manal wrote about.