ISIS’s genocidal attack on the Yezidi population of northern Iraq in the summer of 2014 brought the world’s attention to followers of a faith with a long history of persecution. Large numbers of men were executed, while thousands of Yezidi women were taken to the Islamic state to be sold as chattel for ISIS fighters. The headlines have moved on, but many Yezidi women and children remain in captivity. Their mass abduction is here conveyed with extraordinary intensity by the first-hand repor...

Cathy Otten tells the story of the ISIS attacks, the mass enslavements of Yezidi women and the fallout from the disaster. She challenges common perceptions of Yezidi female victimhood by focusing on stories of resistance passed down by generations. ISIS's genocidal attack on the Yezidi population in northern Iraq in 2014 brought the world's attention to the small faith that numbers less than one million worldwide. That summer ISIS massacred Yezidi men and enslaved women and children. More ...