VALERIE HUDSON is grateful to many people and institutions that made this book possible. First up, I am grateful to our agent, Jason Yarn, and our editor, Anne Routon, for having faith that people would be interested in reading this book. Second, I wish to thank the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University and the George H. W. Bush Chair at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University for their much-needed and much-appreciated support of this project.
Next up are the many wonderful individuals who talked to me in person, over Skype, by e-mail, and on the telephone as my interviewees. I am grateful for the time you were willing to spend with me so that I could understand your perspective. This list includes several people who wished to remain anonymous, as well as Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Melanne Verveer, Paula Dobriansky, Ryan Crocker, Donald Steinberg, Lauren Wolfe, Caren Grown, Carla Koppell, Anne-Marie Goetz, Dara Kay Cohen, Natalie Florea Hudson, Ritu Sharma, Kathleen Kuehnast, Steven Steiner, Charlotte Ponticelli, Jessica Neuwirth, Yasmeen Hassan, Sarah Taylor, Shelby Quast, Jen Klein, Mariam Mansury, Anita McBride, Charity Wallace, Jane Mosbacher Morris, Cybele Cochran, Tobie Whitman, Farah Council, Michelle Barsa, Sarah Chatellier, Patricia Guerrero, Rosa Brooks, Kristen Cordell, Swanee Hunt, Deborah Cavin, Andrew Natsios, K. P. Vijayalakhshmi, Lee Waldorf, Lauren Hersh, Sue Smalley, Suzanne Griffin, Tcholpon Akhmatalieva, the Nobel Women’s Initiative Conference Participants of May 2013, Samia Ahmed, Lena Ag, Rebecca Chiao, Soraya Chemaly, Christine Fair, the Institute for Inclusive Security, Joseph Vess, the WomanStats Project, Becca Nielsen, Jodie Evans, Louise Olsson, Zohra Rasekh, Palwasha Kakar, Peter Van Buren, Ann Jones, Matt Pottinger, Alexandra Tenny, Iris Bohnet, Sima Samar, Sanam Anderlini, Michele Flournoy, and Charles Brown. I have no doubt that I have forgotten someone, and I apologize if that is the case.
The following five individuals made this book possible, and I cannot adequately express my gratitude for their unwavering efforts in its (and my) behalf: Quinton Jones, Amber Hall, Taylor Richards, Eliza Campbell, and Jenny Russell. God bless you all.
I also wish to express my deep appreciation to my coauthor, Patricia Leidl, who was such a trooper through all the travels and travails of writing this book.
Finally, I wish to apologize to my family for being somewhat distracted by the writing of this book. I hope when you read it, you will feel that it was all in a good cause.
Patricia Leidl would like to extend her gratitude to the many friends who supported her while researching and writing this book. In particular I would like to thank Jason Yarn, who tirelessly worked to make the book a reality, and Anne Routon, who believes, like us, that violence against women critically undermines the very basis of what we know to be a civil and just society. I would also like to acknowledge Luis Hinojos for arranging and translating interviews in Ciudad Juarez. Although this material did not make it into our book, his insight and facility for pulling in contacts I would never normally have enjoyed access to was absolutely invaluable. Thanks also to journalists Sergio Rodriguez Gonzalez, Charles Bowden, and Molly Molloy. Being exposed to opposing viewpoints enables a journalist to approach subject matter with much more rigor. I’d also like to thank Ylva Mossing for setting up interviews and interpreting for me in Mexico City and Wendy Mendoza for risking her own safety to assist with my research in Guatemala City. To the many women human rights defenders who risked their lives to speak to me there I extend my humble gratitude: Iada Batres, Lucia Moran, Suzanne Moran and Estela Maldonado. I would also like to acknowledge the victims of violence and their families who shared with me painful recollections of loss and abuse. I hope that one day soon, justice will catch up with the perpetrators.
Special thanks also go to the many women and men working on USAID-funded development projects who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. Your willingness to come forward was critical to telling the story of The Hillary Doctrine. I’d also like to thank my writing partner, Valerie M. Hudson, whose idea it was to write this book and whose unflagging encouragement enabled me to write more words than I ever thought possible.
Special mention goes to Katherine Monk, who provided me with a space in which to work, encouragement, and invaluable pointers about how to survive the writing process.
My most heartfelt admiration, however, is reserved for the many human rights defenders, forensic specialists, families of murdered and disappeared women, and the journalists—both female and male—who continue to work in the face of harassment, death threats, and unrelenting persecution.
Your courage and dedication continue to shine a light on the most pervasive human rights abuse of our time. There are too many of you to adumbrate here, but this book is dedicated to your work and the millions of women who have either lost their lives to—or are living with—violence and repression.
