Megan K. Stack

A National Book Award finalist's devastating account of raising her children abroad with the help of Chinese and Indian women who are also working mothers, a compromise that leads her to examine the underbelly of cheap domestic labor--and to realize that the work of the household is where gender inequality begins When Megan Stack left her prestigious job as a foreign correspondent to have a baby and work from her home in Beijing writing a book, she quickly realized that childcare and housework would consume the time she needed to write. This dilemma was resolved in the manner of many upper class families and large corporations: she availed herself of cheap Chinese labor. The housekeeper Stack hired was a migrant from the countryside, a mother who had left her daughter in a precarious situation to earn desperately needed cash in the capital. As Stack's family grew, a series of Chinese and Indian women cooked, cleaned and babysat in her home and she grew increasingly aware of the brutal realities of their lives: domestic abuse, alcoholism, unplanned pregnancies, medical and family crises. Hiring poor women had given Stack the ability to work while raising her children--but what ethical compromise had she made? Determined to confront the truth, Stack traveled to her employees' homes, met their parents and children, and turned a journalistic eye on the tradeoffs they'd been forced to make as working mothers seeking upward mobility--and on the cost to the children who were left behind. Women's Work is a stunning memoir of four women and an electrifying meditation on the evasions of marriage, motherhood, feminism, and privilege.

A Reckoning with Home and Help

Women's Work

A few weeks after 9/11, Stack, a national correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," was thrust into Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Every Man in This Village Is a Liar" is a shattering account of war and disillusionment from a young woman reporter on the front lines of the war on terror.

An Education in War

Every Man in this Village is a Liar

A shattering account of war and disillusionment from a young woman reporter on the front lines of the war on terror. A few weeks after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, journalist Megan K. Stack was thrust into Afghanistan and Pakistan, dodging gunmen, prodding warlords for information, and witnessing the changes sweeping the Muslim world. Every Man in This Village Is a Liar is her riveting story of what she saw in the combat zones and beyond. She relates her initial wild excitement and slow disillusionment as the cost of violence outweighs the promise of democracy; she records the raw pain of suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq; and, one by one, she marks the deaths and disappearances of those she interviews.

Every Man in This Village is a Liar

A l'automne 2001, suite aux attentats du 11-septembre, Megan Stack, journaliste pour le LATimes, est envoyée en Afghanistan. Elle a 25 ans et n'a jamais couvert de conflit. Le choc est brutal. Elle découvre le chaos de l'après-Talibans en même temps que le charme violent de ce pays. Envoûtée par les paysages et la culture de l'Afghanistan, la jeune journaliste dialogue avec les habitants, les mercenaires, les dirigeants politiques mais surtout avec les femmes qui ont subi le terrible régime des Talibans. Megan Stack décide ensuite de sillonner le Moyen-Orient, multipliant les rencontres pendant cinq ans. Koweït, Egypte, Arabie Saoudite, Libye, Liban, Israël, Palestine... Elle dresse des portraits inoubliables d'habitants, de militants, de responsables religieux, de femmes humiliées, de journalistes désorientés. Tous les hommes de ce village sont des menteurs est le récit de ces années de voyage et d'enquête dans cette fascinante région du monde. Son regard de femme donne à ce texte un ton unique. Son écriture à la fois précise et lyrique la situe dans la lignée des grands écrivains de guerre comme Norman Mailer ou encore Ernest Hemingway. Un livre personnel, juste et souvent poignant qui permet de saisir, à hauteur d'homme, les conflits agitant cette zone géographique.

Tous les hommes de ce village sont des menteurs

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2019 From National Book Award finalist Megan K. Stack, a stunning memoir of raising her children abroad with the help of Chinese and Indian women who are also working mothers When Megan Stack was living in Beijing, she left her prestigious job as a foreign correspondent to have her first child and work from home writing a book. She quickly realized that caring for a baby and keeping up with the housework while her husband went to the office each day was consuming the time she needed to write. This dilemma was resolved in the manner of many upper-class families and large corporations: she availed herself of cheap Chinese labor. The housekeeper Stack hired was a migrant from the countryside, a mother who had left her daughter in a precarious situation to earn desperately needed cash in the capital. As Stack's family grew and her husband's job took them to Dehli, a series of Chinese and Indian women cooked, cleaned, and babysat in her home. Stack grew increasingly aware of the brutal realities of their lives: domestic abuse, alcoholism, unplanned pregnancies. Hiring poor women had given her the ability to work while raising her children, but what ethical compromise had she made? Determined to confront the truth, Stack traveled to her employees' homes, met their parents and children, and turned a journalistic eye on the tradeoffs they'd been forced to make as working mothers seeking upward mobility—and on the cost to the children who were left behind. Women's Work is an unforgettable story of four women as well as an electrifying meditation on the evasions of marriage, motherhood, feminism, and privilege.

Megan K. Stack

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