yemen (republic)

Adela Damari, a Jewish girl living in Yemen, is in danger of being adopted by the local Muslim community--unless her ailing parents can find her a husband before they die. When she meets two cousins from faraway cities--a boy with whom she shares a secret, and a girl who introduces her to the rituals of henna--Adela finds herself embarking on a new adventure into the dangers of Israel.

Laura Kasinof studied Arabic in college and moved to Yemen a few years later to work as a freelance journalist. When she first moved to Sanaa in 2009, she was the only American reporter based there. When antigovernment protests broke out in Yemen, part of the revolts sweeping the Arab world at the time, she contacted the New York Times to see if she could cover the rapidly unfolding events for the newspaper. Laura never planned to be a war correspondent, but found herself in the middle of brutal government attacks on peaceful protesters. As foreign reporters were rounded up and shipped out of the country, Laura managed to elude the authorities but found herself increasingly isolated--and even more determined to report on what she saw.

Examines the experiences of Nujood Ali, a Yemeni girl who at the age of nine was forced to marry a thirty-year-old man against her will. Nujood managed to get a divorce, becoming the youngest-known divorcee in the world. Explores similar cases of forced child marriages in impoverished places around the world and what is being done to stop them.

Traces the history of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, describing each country's climate, plants and animals, ethnic groups, languages, religion, settlement patterns, and demographic trends, and discussing industry, resources, government, and the struggles of the people.

Ali Nujood, the first child bride in Yemen to win a divorce, tells the story of her experiences after her father arranged for her to be married in 2008 at the age of ten to a man three times her age, describes what happened when she sought out a judge in order to get a divorce, and discusses the impact of her actions on traditional Yemen culture and society.

On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole docked in the port of Aden in Yemen for a routine refueling stop. Suddenly the 8,400-ton destroyer was rocked by an enormous explosion. The bombing of the USS Cole was al Qaeda's first direct assault against the United States. Although this was an unmistakable act of war, the United States government delayed retaliating as bureaucrats and politicians sought to shift and pin blame as they ignored the danger signaled by the attack. Eleven months later 9/11 occurred and the USS Cole incident was overshadowed. This book was written by the retired former commanding officer of the USS Cole.