Now twenty-five, with a new life and the prospect of a child, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which reach her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, with his harem of fifty-two wives, and her parents, Darius and Sara, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them.In this high-spirited, kaleidoscopic story, key moments of Iranian history, politics, and culture punctuate stories of family drama and triumph. Yet it is Kimiâ herself—punk-rock aficionado, storyteller extraordinaire, a Scheherazade of our time, and above all a modern woman divided between family traditions and her own “disorientalization”—who forms the heart of this bestselling and beloved novel.

    Now Ebadi tells her story of courage and defiance in the face of a government out to destroy her, her family, and her mission: to bring justice to the people and the country she loves. For years the Islamic Republic tried to intimidate Ebadi, but after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power in 2005, the censorship and persecution intensified. The government wiretapped Ebadi’s phones, bugged her law firm, sent spies to follow her, harassed her colleagues, detained her daughter, and arrested her sister on trumped-up charges. It shut down her lectures, fired up mobs to attack her home, seized her offices, and nailed a death threat to her front door. Despite finding herself living under circumstances reminiscent of a spy novel, nothing could keep Ebadi from speaking out and standing up for human dignity. But it was not until she received a phone call from her distraught husband—and he made a shocking confession that would all but destroy her family—that she realized what the intelligence apparatus was capable of to silence its critics. The Iranian government would end up taking everything from Shirin Ebadi—her marriage, friends, and colleagues, her home, her legal career, even her Nobel Prize—but the one thing it could never steal was her spirit to fight for justice and a better future. This is the story of a woman who would never give up, no matter the risks.

     This book is about what went right in the Iraq War: The untold acts of valor by some of America’s most highly decorated combat veterans, the brotherhood they shared, and the fighting spirit that kept them alive through the war’s darkest hours. Every word is true, composed from striking and detailed firsthand accounts by elite paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions, a Green Beret, an Army Ranger, infantrymen, combat medics, and Marines. You’ll discover their remarkable heroism as the war’s most significant operations are vividly described, including the invasion, the Battle of Nasiriyah, the taking of Baghdad, the hunt for the infamous Deck of Cards, the fight against al-Sadr’s Mahdi Militia in Najaf, the Second Battle of Fallujah, the Battle of Ramadi, the al-Qaeda insurgency throughout the al-Anbar Province, the surge, and the long withdrawal. Gripping and intimate, American Warfighter is guaranteed to take readers on an unforgettable journey of brotherhood, survival, and courage.

    He draws the turbulence of the post-war era during which the Shah survived assassination attempts and coup plots to build a modern, pro-Western state and launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers. Readers get the story of the Shah's political career alongside the story of his courtship and marriage to Farah Diba, who became a power in her own right, the beloved family they created, and an exclusive look at life inside the palace during the Iranian Revolution. Cooper's investigative account ultimately delivers the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty through the eyes of those who were there: leading Iranian revolutionaries; President Jimmy Carter and White House officials; US Ambassador William Sullivan and his staff in the American embassy in Tehran; American families caught up in the drama; even Empress Farah herself, and the rest of the Iranian Imperial family. Intimate and sweeping at once, The Fall of Heaven recreates in stunning detail the dramatic and final days of one of the world's most legendary ruling families, the unseating of which helped set the stage for the current state of the Middle East.

    He declares that Foucault recognized that Iranians were at a threshold and were considering if it were possible to think of dignity, justice, and liberty outside the cognitive maps and principles of the European Enlightenment. Foucault in Iran centers not only on the significance of the great thinker’s writings on the revolution but also on the profound mark the event left on his later lectures on ethics, spirituality, and fearless speech. Contemporary events since 9/11, the War on Terror, and the Arab Uprisings have made Foucault’s essays on the Iranian Revolution more relevant than ever. Ghamari-Tabrizi illustrates how Foucault saw in the revolution an instance of his antiteleological philosophy: here was an event that did not fit into the normative progressive discourses of history. What attracted him to the Iranian Revolution was precisely its ambiguity.Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this interdisciplinary work will spark a lively debate in its insistence that what informed Foucault’s writing was not an effort to understand Islamism but, rather, his conviction that Enlightenment rationality has not closed the gate of unknown possibilities for human societies.

    As the appointed defender of Iran's revolution, the Guards have evolved into a pillar of the Islamic Republic and the spearhead of its influence. Their sway has spread across the Middle East, where the Guards have overseen loyalist support to Bashar al-Assad in Syria and been a staunch backer in Iraq's war against ISIS-bringing its own troops, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Shiite militias to the fight. Links to terrorism, human rights abuses, and the suppression of popular democracy have shrouded the Revolutionary Guards in controversy. In spite of their prominence, the Guards remain poorly understood to outside observers. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar has written the first comprehensive history of the organization. Situating the rise of the Guards in the larger contexts of Shiite Islam, modern Iranian history, and international affairs, Ostovar takes a multifaceted approach in demystifying the organization and detailing its evolution since 1979. Politics, power, and religion collide in this story, wherein the Revolutionary Guards transform from a rag-tag militia established in the midst of revolutionary upheaval into a military and covert force with a global reach. The Guards have been fundamental to the success of the Islamic revolution. The symbiotic relationship between them and Iran's clerical rulers underpins the regime's nearly unshakeable system of power. The Guards have used their privileged position at home to export Iran's revolution beyond its borders, establishing client armies in their image and extending Iran's strategic footprint in the process. Ostovar tenaciously documents the Guards' transformation into a power-player and explores why the group matters now more than ever to regional and global affairs. The book simultaneously serves as a history of modern Iran, and provides a crucial and engrossing entryway into the complex world of war, politics, and identity in the Middle East.

    Colonel father in Tehran, Iran. It’s the late 1970s, and unbeknownst to the Patterson family, Iran is on the verge of phenomenal and unprecedented change. Initially, culture shock envelopes Annie as much as the black robes that cloak the people milling in the airport, or the pollution that hovers below the snowcapped peaks of the Alborz Mountains. Cultural differences are soon embraced as the two Patterson sisters meet two Iranian teenage boys at the side of a dusty soccer field. Experiences begin to deepen: a whirlwind tour of the ancient Grand Bazaar, a picnic on an aged Persian carpet, dancing beneath a looming moon amid the sweet fragrance of jasmine. But as the saying goes: all is [not] fair in love and war, and the two sisters find themselves attracted to the same man. Soon though, unrequited love becomes the least of Annie’s worries, as the rumblings of dissent and unrest become too loud to ignore: movie theater fires, restaurant bombings, the imposition of martial law, foolish dalliances after curfew, even dangerous encounters with roving gangs of dissenters and bloodied demonstrators. As uncertainty overtakes daily life and the overthrow of the Shah becomes imminent, activities such as work and school must go on with sheer determination and courage. Trapped by tumultuous demonstrations in the streets, Annie spends a passion-filled night with her Persian protector, to the extent that an innocent teenage girl and an adult boy bound by religious sensibilities can. Ultimately, the country unravels, the Shah's regime ends, and the Patterson family and their Iranian friends must figure out what to do next (Inshallah, God Willing), as all the while—persecute; purge; pious—becomes the order of the day. Annie and her family are forced to live life as if there were no tomorrow, in the midst of heart-numbing UNREST.

    With forty-eight Islamic geometric compositions from around the world to choose from, artists at all skill levels will relish the myriad opportunities to replicate these intricate patterns, or create their own. The workbook’s clever design invites the pattern-maker to consider a composition in the book, take a corresponding loose leaf from the back of the book, and figure out which sections of lines to trace to make the composition.Readers will have the unique satisfaction of making patterns appear where previously none were visible. Compositions—including a mix of more familiar geometric compositions and those that have scarcely been documented—are categorized by region and have various levels of complexity, making it possible for beginners to get started and artists or designers to develop their skills. Compositions are sourced from Samarkand, Delhi, Fes, Isfahan, and Cairo, among many others.

    It exami....

    She flew from her adopted home of Ireland to her birthplace in Iran so her 14-month-old daughter, Rojha, could be introduced to the child's father. When the violent and unstable father refused to allow his daughter to leave and demanded that Samieh renew their relationship, a two-week holiday became a desperate five-year battle to get her daughter out of Iran. If Samieh could not do so before Rojha turned seven, the father could take sole custody—forever. The father's harassment and threats intensified, eventually resulting in an allegation of adultery that was punishable by stoning, but Samieh—a single mother trapped in a country she saw as restricting the freedom and future of her daughter—never gave up, gaining inspiration from other Iranian women facing similar situations. As both the trial for adultery and her daughter's seventh birthday loomed the Irish government was unable to help, leaving Samieh to attempt multiple illegal escapes in an unforgettable, epic journey to freedom. Trapped in Iran is the harrowing and emotionally gripping story of how a mother defied a man and a country to win freedom for her daughter.

    They fall in love and refuse to abandon each other, even under duress. Can Iran’s greatest knight, Rostam, help save the day and bring warring nations to peace?The story of Bijan and Manije is one of the ancient epic stories of Shahnameh (Book of Kings). Ferdowsi, the 10th century Persian poet, gathered the historical stories and myths of Persia in the form of poem in Shahnameh. The Book of Kings was traditionally the base of Pardekhani, a type of storytelling for the public where illustrations were made on large canvases and a narrator read the poems to the audience in coffeehouses and streets.Ali Seidabadi is a writer and poet for children and young adults who has written more than 40 books. He is editor of the only Iranian journal that deals specifically with children’s literature: Research Quarterly for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.Marjan Vafaian has been creating elaborate and detailed book illustrations for 10 years. Very well received at home in Iran, her work has also won awards in international exhibitions. Marjan has also illustrated The Parrot and the Merchant, a retelling of a fable by Rumi and published by Tiny Owl.

    From the Greco-Persian wars of antiquity, through the rise and flourishing of Islam, to the age of European imperialist expansion in the East, Iran has been a central player in global history. Drawn by its strategic location along the Silk Road, ancient and distinctive culture and abundant natural resources, foreign diplomats, traders and travelers have been coming to Iran for centuries. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 and subsequent events put a strain on Iran’s relationship with the outside world, particularly the West, leading to sanctions and a decline in tourism and trade. Yet early in 2016 the Lausanne Accord over Iran’s nuclear program, and then national elections resulting in greater reformist representation in Iran’s Parliament have greatly increased the country’s attractiveness to outsiders, with travelers and business people once more setting their sights on Iran. The Guide offers visitors to Iran scholarly and readable introductions to:• Zoroaster, Cyrus, Darius & Alexander• Shi’a Islam, religious art and architecture• The complexities of Iran’s fraughtrelationship with Israel• Persepolis, Pasargdae, Esfahan & Shiraz• Ferdowsi, Attar and Hafez• Iranian film, food & music• UNESCO World Heritage sites• 464 pages, 133 color photos• 17 easy-to-use maps

    Nima Naghibi investigates auto/biographical narratives across genres—including memoirs, documentary films, prison testimonials, and graphic novels—and finds that they are tied together by the experience of the 1979 Iranian revolution as a traumatic event and by a powerful nostalgia for an idealized past.Naghibi is particularly interested in writing as both an expression of memory and an assertion of human rights. She discovers that writing life narratives contributes to the larger enterprise of righting historical injustices. By drawing on the empathy of the reader/spectator/witness, Naghibi contends, life narratives offer the possibilities of connecting to others and responding with an increased commitment to social justice. The book opens with an examination of how the widely circulated video footage of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan on the streets of Tehran in June 2009 triggered the articulation of life narratives by diasporic Iranians. It concludes with a discussion of the prominent place of the 1979 revolution in these narratives. Throughout, the focus is on works that have become popular in the West, such as Marjane Satrapi’s best-selling graphic novel Persepolis. Naghibi addresses the significant questions raised by these works: How do we engage with human rights and social justice as readers in the West? How do these narratives draw our attention and elicit our empathic reactions? And what is our responsibility as witnesses to trauma, atrocity, and human suffering?

    When she objects, she is told that she "needs a man's name on her, to protect her." While in one era that would have been the end of her story, here it is just the beginning for a young woman determined to make her own decisions. She engages the help of other strong women who, despite worries about family honor, eventually help Ateesh obtain a divorce and enter the path to a new life that leads to university. Learning there about modern relationships, independence and control become even more important to her. Rather than submit to the oppressive control of another man, she decides to use men to gain independence from them.This decision leads her to enter into multiple "temporary marriages," a form of prostitution sanctioned by society and religion through a skewed interpretation of the Koran and Islamic law. We follow Ateesh in the coming years as her world becomes increasingly complicated and divided—one life behind closed doors as a siqeh and another as a university student and researcher working for women's equality.Based on interviews conducted by the author, Ateesh's story represents the compelling accounts of legal and cultural injustices that prevail in modern Iran.Born in Tehran, attorney and professor Nadia Shahram planned to be the Iranian Barbara Walters. Interrupted by the 1979 revolution, she moved to the United States where she advocates for Muslim women's rights.

    For the first time in decades, the adoption of serious liberal reforms seemed possible. But the opportunity proved short-lived, leaving Iranian activists and intellectuals to debate whether any path to democracy remained open.Offering a new framework for understanding democratization in developing countries governed by authoritarian regimes, Democracy in Iran is a penetrating, historically informed analysis of Iran's current and future prospects for reform. Beginning with the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Misagh Parsa traces the evolution of Iran's theocratic regime, examining the challenges the Islamic Republic has overcome as well as those that remain: inequalities in wealth and income, corruption and cronyism, and a "brain drain" of highly educated professionals eager to escape Iran's repressive confines. The political fortunes of Iranian reformers seeking to address these problems have been uneven over a period that has seen hopes raised during a reformist administration, setbacks under Ahmadinejad, and the birth of the Green Movement. Although pro-democracy activists have made progress by fits and starts, they have few tangible reforms to show for their efforts.In Parsa's view, the outlook for Iranian democracy is stark. Gradual institutional reforms will not be sufficient for real change, nor can the government be reformed without fundamentally rethinking its commitment to the role of religion in politics and civic life. For Iran to democratize, the options are narrowing to a single path: another revolution.

    One group of these people would find themselves encamped in an unpromising, arid region just south of the Caspian Sea. From these modest and uncertain beginnings, they would go on to form one of the most powerful empires in history: the Persian Empire. In this book, Geoffrey and Brenda Parker tell the captivating story of this ancient civilization and its enduring legacy to the world.    The authors examine the unique features of Persian life and trace their influence throughout the centuries. They examine the environmental difficulties the early Persians encountered and how, in overcoming them, they were able to develop a unique culture that would culminate in the massive, first empire, the Achaemenid Empire. Extending their influence into the maritime west, they fought the Greeks for mastery of the eastern Mediterranean—one of the most significant geopolitical contests of the ancient world. And the authors paint vivid portraits of Persian cities and their spectacular achievements: intricate and far-reaching roadways, an astonishing irrigation system that created desert paradises, and, above all, an extraordinary reflection of the diverse peoples that inhabited them.             Informed and original, this is a history of an incomparable culture whose influence can still be seen, millennia later, in modern-day Iran and the wider Middle East.

    A province in Southern Iran is home to the descendants of slaves and traders from Africa.DAS AUF AMAZON.DE ANGEGEBENE ERSCHEINUNGDATUM BEZIEHT SICH NUR AUF USA. DER TITEL IST IN EUROPA BEREITS LIEFERBAR, AUCH DURCH AMAZON.DE /THE PUBLICATION DATE INDICATED HERE IS ONLY FOR USA. THIS TITLE IS ALREADY AVAILABLE IN EUROPE, ALSO ON AMAZON.DE

    Volume 2, The Iranian Reception of Islam: The Non-Traditionalist Strands, examines the reception of pre-Islamic legacies in Islam, above all that of the Iranians.

    However, the developments that lie at the root of our own world - farming, cities, writing, organized religion, warfare - were forged in the tensions and relations between the inhabitants of lowland Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) and the highlands of Iran. Mountains and Lowlands explores this relationship providing a detailed but accessible account covering the period 6000 BC AD 650, from the development of the first agricultural communities to the coming of Islam. The story is told through the superlative Ancient Near Eastern collections in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, supplemented by images of photographs of archaeological sites and of iconic pieces in other collections including the Louvre, Paris. The discussion is further supported by six maps commissioned especially for this publication. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. From Village to City: 6000-3000 BC 3. From City to Kingdom: 3000-1500 BC 4. From Kingdom to Empire: 1500-500 BC 5. From India to Egypt: 500 BC-AD 650"

    By examining primary and secondary sources, and investigating longer lasting factors and questions over circumstantial ones, Mohammed Jafar Amir Mahallati seeks to understand modern Iranian responses to war and peace. His work is the first in its field to look into the ethics of war and peace in Iran and Shi'i Islam. It provides a prism through which the binary source of the Iranian national and religious identity informs Iranian response to modernity. By doing so, the author reveals that a syncretic and civilization-conscious soul in modern Iran is re-emerging.