Pari Publishing

Reviews

“Donna Kennedy-Glans brings wisdom, substance, and experience to the entrenched confusions and assumptions that stymie and harm individuals and societies, especially through the women. She guides the reader into the “breathing space” where clarity and patience unveil the “oneness,” both infinitely complex and simple. There, instead of divides between women and men, secular and spiritual, East and West, and within cultures, you experience the truth of the deeper unity, richness, and potential.
We know peace depends upon educated, passionate women leading the world with their truth. Kennedy-Glans' book is not only a joy to read but it is a manual for this adventure, bringing us greater wisdom, power, leadership, and more comfort within the miracle of who we are.”
Patricia Smith Melton, editor, interviewer, and photographer of Sixty Years, Sixty Voices: Israeli and Palestinian Women; founder and board chair of Peace X Peace (“peace by peace”); former executive director of Peace X Peace; recipient of the 2008 Rumi Forum Peace Award; recipient of a 2008 OneWorld’s Person of the Year Award.

“The author draws together experiences from Yemen and her personal life into a balanced reflection on gender relations that is both encouraging and refreshing. She has winsomely combined insights from many sources but maintains an intimate focus, and persuades from experience rather than imposes views. Her most original contributions stem from her personal sharing with Yemeni Muslim women.
Scholars of Islamic culture have increasingly recognized the importance of understanding Muslims from within and in their individual variations. Although the writer is not a professional Islamicist, she has grasped this essential human truth and as a result her reporting has the ring of truth and often expresses a poignant realism. In addition to its general relevance her work will therefore need to be reckoned with in the Muslim dimension of gender studies. We look forward to more productions from this sensitive pen.”
Roland E. Miller PhD, Professor Emeritus, Islamic Studies, University of Regina, Saskatchewan

“This is a timely and significant book. By exploring a different tradition we begin to realize the deeply ingrained assumptions of our own cultural behavior. Donna Kennedy-Glans offers all of us the promise of a much needed transformation.”
F. David Peat PhD, author of Gentle Action: Bringing creative change to a turbulent world

“This book is a major step towards peace because it shows us how to understand people who appear different but are basically the same as us. It reminds me of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Through both gentleness and brutality, it causes ripples which change the world for the better! It's beautiful and powerful! If everyone read this book, peace would break out! Thank you, Donna, for writing such an important and inspiring book!”
Frances Wright, Founder, Famous 5 Foundation

“How can we in the West, without presumption or arrogance, help effect social change in the Islamic countries, while refining our own convictions and practices—especially in relation to gender roles? Drawing on her experiences around the world, and in the troubled but fascinating state of Yemen in particular, Donna Kennedy-Glans suggests that we have the power to reframe our own ideas about gender, while creating a new and more subtle dialogue with traditional cultures, including fundamentalist Islam. With many telling examples from her own rich personal experience, and using both traditional wisdom and some of the latest research in various fields, she advances the idea of subtle connections, respect, "breathing spaces" that would replace chauvinism and confrontation, and create dialogues from which vital new relations would emerge, both on the personal and social levels. An original book, highly-informed and intelligent, Unveiling the Breath should be read by anyone in search of new insights in gender relations, or in possible future paths for women in the emerging global culture.”
Tom Henighan, author of Coming of Age in Arabia: A memoir of Aden before the terror