These are stories about strong women: survivors that include professionals or professional whores, writers, educators, counselors and curanderas, the bewitched

The men and women glimpsed in Lahens's stories are confronted with the overwhelming task of simply staying alive. "The Survivors" unfolds under the Duvalier dic

Zainab Salbi's media profile soared with her first book, a memoir of growing up in Saddam Hussein's inner circle. Her foundation, Women for Women International,