Starred review from November 23, 2020
National security analyst Lemmon (Ashley’s War) delivers a fascinating portrait of Kurdish female fighters and their role in the Syrian civil war and the fight against the Islamic State. Beginning in 2012, Lemmon explains, ISIS took advantage of a rebellion against the Assad regime to seize control of vast swaths of territory in Syria. The country’s Kurdish ethnic minority, concentrated along the northeastern borders with Turkey and Iraq and long oppressed by the Syrian government, formed People’s Protection Units to advance the cause of self-rule and defend Kurdish villages from ISIS and other extremists. In 2013, a few hundred women formed a “separate and equal” satellite of the People’s Protection Units, stipulating that in their new organization “women could and would lead men in battle, but women would not be led by men.” They soon gained a reputation as fierce and effective fighters, which Lemmon demonstrates in a riveting account of how four women took part in the battle for the city of Kobani. Aided by U.S. intelligence and occasional air strikes, these and other members of the Women’s Protection Units helped to retake the city from ISIS. Lemmon briskly sketches the biographies of individual fighters and commanders, and unravels the complex history of the region with skill. This deeply reported account enthralls and informs. Agent: Elyse Cheney, Elyse Cheney Literary
Starred review from December 1, 2020
In her new book, journalist Lemmon (Ashley's War) again focuses on the contributions of women in wartime, highlighting the all-female Kurdish militia units who partnered with U.S. armed forces against ISIS in Syria. Indeed, it was a soldier she'd previously worked with while researching Ashley's War who urged her to take a deeper look at the Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ). From 2017 to 2020, the author made multiple trips to Syria to interview YPJ members, who served as snipers and frontline commanders, fighting alongside men, all the while demanding that women be considered equal. After following the women through the victory of retaking the ISIS capital of Raqqa, the book ends on a darker note, with the announcement by Donald Trump that the U.S. would pull out of Syria, leaving the country alone to handle an invasion by NATO ally Turkey. Only days later, Turkey launched an offensive aimed at an ethnic cleansing of Syrian Kurds. VERDICT Handling difficult topics with adroit respect and care, Lemmon offers a story that's eminently relatable and speaks to the ongoing fight for women's rights the world over. This is a story that needed to be told and needs to be heard. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in current events and women's history.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 15, 2020
A group portrait of a band of trailblazing female soldiers who helped to take back territory that the Islamic State group had claimed in Syria. Lemmon, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, follows a group of Kurdish women who made a remarkable decision during the Syrian civil war: They would lead men in battle, creating "an all-female command structure." They were members of the "plucky ragtag militia" known as the Kurdish Women's Protection Units, or YPJ, adherents of the Marxist-Leninist-inspired teachings of the imprisoned Turkish Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who believed that the "Kurds couldn't be free if women weren't." Skepticism of the women's efforts diminished after the battle of Kobani, when all-female units--toting AK-47s and serving as snipers, battlefield commanders, and more--helped to deal IS its first loss, a turning point in the war. The YPJ later fought at Manbij, Raqqa, and elsewhere, gaining an acceptance by male soldiers that astonished a U.S. Army member: "The men have no issue with them at all. It's almost bizarre." Lemmon adroitly sets the women's battlefield exploits against the backdrop of shifting regional alliances and U.S. policies, evenhandedly showing Barack Obama's slowness to respond to the IS threat--"In January 2014, Obama characterized ISIS as 'junior varsity' "--as well as the risks of the Trump administration's decision to pull out of Kobani and stand back when NATO ally Turkey attacked Kurdish-led northern Syria in 2019. The author focuses on the YPJ women in their fighting roles, which makes for a steady pace but at times limited characterizations. As a group, however, these soldiers display a wholly admirable bravery and commitment to women's equality even when it cost them--as it sometimes did--their lives. A well-told story of contemporary female warriors and the complex geopolitical realities behind their battles.
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