The moving account of the life and early death of a young female activist, adapted from her own writings. Why did a 23-year old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between an Israeli army bulldozer and a Palestinian home in the Gaza strip? Compiled from her letters, diaries and emails by Alan Rickman and Guardian journalist Katharine Viner, My Name is Rachel Corrie recounts, in her own words, her short life and sudden death. My Name is Rachel Corrie was first performed by Megan Dodds at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2005, winning Best New Play at the 2006 WhatsOnStage Awards.

This volume draws together the finest writing in the Guardian from 2006. From eyewitness reports to obituaries, art criticism to sports reporting, diary stories to editorials, politics to travel, and business to the Internet.

"A powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving piece of theatre."-Daily Telegraph"Theatre can't change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people's passionate concern."-GuardianI have been in Palestine for two weeks and one hour now, and I still have very few words to describe what I see. I don't know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls. You just can't imagine it unless you see it. And even then your experience is not at all the reality . . . [due to] the fact that I have money to buy water when the army destroys wells, and of course, the fact that I have the option of leaving. I am allowed to see the ocean.-Rachel Corrie On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, a twenty-three-year-old American, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip as she was trying to prevent the demolition of the Palestinian homes. My Name is Rachel Corrie is a one-woman play composed from Rachel's own journals, letters, and e-mails-creating a portrait of a messy, skinny, articulate, Salvador DalA--loving chain-smoker (with a passion for the music of Pat Benatar), who left home and school in Olympia, Washington, "to support Palestinian non-violent resistance to Israel's military occupation." The piece premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre, with an award-winning, sold-out run, before its transfer to the West End.