More women soldiers are fighting in Iraq than in any other American war in history, yet they face a dual challenge:
they are participating in combat more than ever before, but because only one in ten soldiers is female, they are
often painfully alone. This isolation, along with a military culture hostile to women, denies them the
camaraderie soldiers depend on for survival and subjects them to sexual persecution by their comrades. As one
soldier said, "I ended up waging my own war against an enemy dressed in the same uniform as mine."
Praise for The Lonely Soldier:
"Benedict’s brilliant reporting is neither left nor right—it’s human. . . . [These women] are your mother, sister, cousin, daughter. Their stories of injustice in the U.S. military will tear your guts out."
—Dale Maharidge, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
And Their Children After Them
Praise for The Lonely Soldier:
"Benedict’s brilliant reporting is neither left nor right—it’s human. . . . [These women] are your mother, sister, cousin, daughter. Their stories of injustice in the U.S. military will tear your guts out."
—Dale Maharidge, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
And Their Children After Them
"The Lonely Soldier Monologues," Benedict’s play based on the book, was performed in New York City at The Theater for the New City from March 5–22, and at La MaMa on March 17. Anyone interested in extending or producing this play in other theaters should contact William Electric Black.
Helen Benedict, a professor of journalism at Columbia University, has written frequently on women, race, and justice. Her books include Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes and the novels The Opposite of Love, The Sailor's Wife, Bad Angel, and A World Like This. Her work on soldiers won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. Benedict's newest novel, The Edge of Eden, set in Seychelles in
1960, is to be published by Soho Press in November, 2009.