The voice of Indian author Sushmita Banerjee was silenced on September 5th, when she was slain by Afghan militants for her 1997 memoir, A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife, describing life under the Taliban. The book gained wider notice when it was turned into a Bollywood movie, Escape from Taliban, in 2003. Her publisher, Swapan Biswas, said Banarjee had returned to Afghanistan to collect materials for her next book.

Those who would suppress humanity are willing to kill free thought. Those who defend humanity are courageously putting their lives on the line. Both sides of the battle understand the enduring power of books to transform lives and change history.