Half the Sky

　　普立茲獎得主紀思道和伍潔芳，在一九八九年六月四日，因擔任《紐約時報》駐北京特派員而目睹了天安門事件，首次深受人權議題所震撼；翌年又發現中國每週的女嬰死亡人數等同於天安門事件的死亡人數。這讓他們深自思考：新聞報導的取向是否偏頗了？因此他們將鏡頭從外交政治事務轉向披露全球人權的真相。

　　多年來，紀思道和伍潔芳走過亞洲、非洲和拉丁美洲各國，發現在許多開發中國家，性別歧視、重男輕女、貧窮飢餓、種族屠殺、處女情節等現象，讓婦女猶如仍置身在十八、十九世紀的煉獄。

　　透過實地訪談，他們詳實紀錄了非洲、印度、中國、東南亞等開發中國家，女性被壓抑、遭受性虐待、暴力殘害、失去教育、社會地位不平等，甚至醫療落後導致高死亡率的種種真實而令人痛心的案例。

　　每一段採訪都是婦女血淚的見證，每一篇報導都是自身覺醒的產物。

　　書中主角雖然各面臨不同的悲慘命運，但憑著不服輸的意志與正面的態度，為自己找到一片天。看了這些女性的故事，你會為他們的遭遇心痛，同時也為她們的奮鬥感動。

　　From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

　　With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

　　They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

　　Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

　　Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

　　本書中譯版《她們，和她們的希望故事》由馬可孛羅出版。

作者簡介

紀思道與伍潔芳(Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl Wudunn)

　　紀思道與伍潔芳是第一對共同獲得普立茲新聞獎的伉儷；他們在擔任《紐約時報》駐北京特派員時因報導中國情況而榮獲普立茲獎。紀思道先生又因為《紐約時報》的特寫專欄而再度榮獲普立茲獎。他也擔任過香港、北京和東京的分社社長，以及副主編。

　　伍潔芳女士在《紐約時報》擔任商業版編輯，也是駐東京與北京的駐外記者。他們現居紐約市附近。

　　Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, are the first married couple to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for their coverage of China as New York Times correspondents. They received the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement and many other prizes including the George Polk and Overseas Press Club awards.
 
　　Mr. Kristof won a second Pulitzer in 2006, for “his graphic, deeply reported columns that, at personal risk, focused attention on genocide in Darfur.” He has also served as bureau chief in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, and as associate managing editor.

　　Ms. WuDunn, now a business executive, worked at The New York Times, on both the business and news sides. She has been a foreign correspondent in Asia, a business editor and a television anchor. She is the first Asian-American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
 
　　They live near New York City.