Revolution Books presents Helen Benedict,author of " The Lonely Soldier"

Years ago, Helen Benedict encountered a young woman, an Iraq war vet, who told her: "There are only three things the guys let you be if you’re a female in the army: a bitch, a ho, or a dyke." Benedict quickly saw that women are fighting a double war:against the so-called enemy and against discrimination and sexism from their own male comrades. Benedict, a journalist and novelist started to investigate the experience of the female soldier and created a book that not only reports the damning statistics of the deep, ubiquitous misogyny within the U.S. military and its culture, but brings the individual voices of women forward to tell their stories. By following 5 of these women from their childhoods through enlistment, training, active duty in Iraq, and home again, Benedict vividly brings to life their struggles and challenges. Between their stories she weaves in accounts from numerous other Iraq War veterans, illuminating the wrenching and private war of female soldiers.

As one soldier said, "I ended up waging my own war against an enemy dressed in the same uniform as mine."

Helen Benedict is the author of four novels and five books of nonfiction, and is a professor of journalism at Columbia University. The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq came out from Beacon Press in April 2009. Benedcit is also the creator of a play based on the book, The Lonely Soldier Monologues.

Reviews of The Lonely Soldier:

"An important, finely drawn book."
--Deanne Stillman, The Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book13-2009may13,0,5349806.story

"As a 29-year Army and Army Reserve Colonel, I urge everyone—especially women considering joining the US military—to read this important book. Through unforgettable stories, The Lonely Soldier explains the shocking frequency of sexual assault and what can be done."
—Army Reserve Colonel Ann Wright

"It is hard to determine what is most disturbing about this book—the devious and immoral tactics used by leaders and recruiters to get women to join the military, the terrible poverty and personal violence women were escaping that lead them to be vulnerable to such manipulation, the raping and harassing of women soldiers by their superiors and comrades once they got to Iraq, or the untreated homelessness, illnesses and madness that have haunted women since they came home.
The Lonely Solider is an important book, a crucial accounting of the shameful war on women who gave their bodies, lives and souls for their country."
—Eve Ensler, playwright, performer, activist and author of The Vagina Monologues

"It's outrageously immoral that our female soldiers have to fear many of the male soldiers they serve with, as well as being let down by the very Veterans Affairs system that's supposed to help them out. Thanks to Helen Benedict, the world is watching!"
—Roseanne Barr, Emmy Award-winning actor