Kabul Beauty School

[Cumberland]

This is a memoir by a Michigan woman who ran a beauty school NGO in Afghanistan. It was entertaining and interesting but this woman seemed to be able to pile all her common sense into a thimble. She marries an Afghan man that she has know for about two weeks, who turns out to be a seriously bad dude. She has about zero respect for Afghan culture and tries to assert her American attitudes into these women's lives without any thought of the consequences they will face from their families and neighbors. She obviously did not read her lonely planet guide before she left home as she thinks it is ok to stay up late dancing, smoking and drinking with strange Afghan men, then acts surprised when they think she is a hooker. I am sure that other Westerners working there at the time wanted to tie her up and stick her on a plane bc she seems to have done more harm than good then writes a book about it as if she is a savior of the Afghan people.

Re: Kabul Beauty School

I heard a discussion about this on NPR (if it's the same book). Apparently several of the women she "helps" in the book didn't realize that she would be printing their stories and names and are now in hiding. They say she's abandoned them, she says "I've given all the help I can."

[Cumberland]

Re: Kabul Beauty School

It is the same book. I googled the book and found there is a lot of controversy about her.