Boys. The rebel mother ; The foreigner ; The chosen one ; The son maker ; The politician ; The underground girls ; The naughty one -- Youth. The tomboy ; The candidate ; The Pashtun Tea Party ; The future bride ; The sisterhood -- Men. The bodyguard ; The romantic ; The driver ; The warrior ; The refusers ; The goddess ; Zoroastrianism across the globe -- Fathers. The defeated ; The castoff ; The wife ; The father -- One of the boys

An award-winning foreign correspondent who contributed to a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times series reveals the secret Afghan custom of disguising girls as boys to improve their prospects, discussing its political and social significance as well as the experiences of its practitioners