This is the first book to describe and analyze the experience of women in African civil wars. A mixture of reportage, testimony and scholarship, the book includes contributions from women in Chad, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan. The political context of these conflicts is outlined in an introduction to each chapter. The book profiles women's responses to war, as combatants as well as victims, and describes the groups women organize in the aftermath.

Examining rape and other forms of gendered political violence in African civil wars, this extraordinary volume is also about women taking action for change. It is set to become required reading for students and academics of women's, peace and African studies.

Meredeth Turshen teaches Gender and Development and Third World Social Policy at the Edward J Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University.

Clotilde Twagiramariya works at the Center for Women's Global Leadership and in the Department of Urban Studies and Community Health, both at Rutgers.