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Product Description
Review
Captivating ... wise and witty ... essential reading (GQ )
Illuminating, critical and affectionate (Economist, Books of the Year )
Westerners who tend to seek out only Iranians who talk and think like themselves should use this as a guide (Financial Times )
Mr President, if you are serious about negotiating with Iran, you need ... the best book on contemporary Iranian culture and all of its complexities and contradictions. Don't go to Tehran without it (Washington Monthly, ‘What Obama Should Read’ )
The best book yet written on the contradictions of contemporary Iran ... it captures like no book in recent memory the ethos of the country, in elegant and precise prose (LA Times )
It is rare to have this perspective delivered in English with such richness and nuance - it is a perspective quite distinct from the reportorial assembly work of Western reporters or the pained laments of Iranian exiles . . . one hopes that American policymakers will take the time to absorb this book (Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars )
Majd's cosmopolitan perspective permeates his book . . . an impressionistic collection of reporting, memoir, travelogue and commentary (Washington Post )
Illuminating, critical and affectionate (Economist, Books of the Year )
Westerners who tend to seek out only Iranians who talk and think like themselves should use this as a guide (Financial Times )
Mr President, if you are serious about negotiating with Iran, you need ... the best book on contemporary Iranian culture and all of its complexities and contradictions. Don't go to Tehran without it (Washington Monthly, ‘What Obama Should Read’ )
The best book yet written on the contradictions of contemporary Iran ... it captures like no book in recent memory the ethos of the country, in elegant and precise prose (LA Times )
It is rare to have this perspective delivered in English with such richness and nuance - it is a perspective quite distinct from the reportorial assembly work of Western reporters or the pained laments of Iranian exiles . . . one hopes that American policymakers will take the time to absorb this book (Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars )
Majd's cosmopolitan perspective permeates his book . . . an impressionistic collection of reporting, memoir, travelogue and commentary (Washington Post )
Product Description
Hooman Majd, acclaimed journalist and New York-residing grandson of an Ayatollah, has a unique perspective on his Iranian homeland. In this vivid, warm and humorous insider's account, he opens our eyes to an Iran that few people see, meeting opium-smoking clerics, women cab drivers and sartorially challenged presidential officials, among others.
Revealing a country where both t-shirt wearing teenagers and religious martyrs express pride in their Persian origins, that is deeply religious yet highly cosmopolitan, authoritarian yet reformist, this is the one book you should read to understand Iran and Iranians today.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you want to understand what makes the Islamic Republic of Iran tick, then this is the book for you. I'd always seen news reports on Iran and tried to make sense of who's who and why leading Iranian figures always seem to take a perverse pleasure in goading the West. Hooman Majd has the extraordinary ability to explain the loves and likes of Iranians at all levels through a series of anecdotes and mini travelogs, which build a picture of a complex and fiercely proud people. The book is well written with a great sense of humour running through it and on more than one occasion I found myself laughing out loud.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Somewhere near the start of the book the author said he wanted us to peer into Iran's soul. That didn't happen. There was no eureka moment. As there wasn't really anything new here, apart from a few interviews with some senior figures in the Islamic establishment.
So no furniture in my mind shifted. But as first rate travel writing with plenty of background and gentle insight the author certainly polished the furniture. For example anyone who has had any interaction with Iranians know there is a huge amount of snobbery in the disdain the rich and middle classes have for the clerics and Ahmadinejad's working class constituency. Hooman Majd underlines this, but gives us great background on the identity of the `laat' (working class skin head type) and the jahel (skin head leader) who won the revolution for the clerics.
He is particularly good on how Shia Iran is, and during his description of the mourning for Hossein he tells us what the passion is all about: tribalism. `This was our cult', he writes, `and screw the rest of the world, particularly the Arabs if they didn't like it.' This is refreshingly blunt.
There is no detailed political story here, but on these sort of big points you feel Majd has probably got it right: the MEK is rightly loathed by most Iranians; Iranians' garden walls (the public/private divide) is still respected; the idea that the Diaspora Iranians will have any political influence is laughable; the Islamic Republic has massive and committed support, easily seen when Majd attended the revolution's anniversary party; there is no appetite for another violent revolution; the young are more interested in social freedoms than politics, the old in economic security; and so as long as the rulers remember their `Shia sensibilities', (the right of the righteous David to fight the oppressive Goliath) there will be no internal overthrow of the constitution Ayatollah Khomeini set up over thirty years ago.
So for me, there was no peering into Iran's soul; but it was a pleasant journey with plenty of enjoyable sights. If you enjoy travel writing, and want to find out more about Iran from a sensible and knowledgeable guide, this is a good place to start.
So no furniture in my mind shifted. But as first rate travel writing with plenty of background and gentle insight the author certainly polished the furniture. For example anyone who has had any interaction with Iranians know there is a huge amount of snobbery in the disdain the rich and middle classes have for the clerics and Ahmadinejad's working class constituency. Hooman Majd underlines this, but gives us great background on the identity of the `laat' (working class skin head type) and the jahel (skin head leader) who won the revolution for the clerics.
He is particularly good on how Shia Iran is, and during his description of the mourning for Hossein he tells us what the passion is all about: tribalism. `This was our cult', he writes, `and screw the rest of the world, particularly the Arabs if they didn't like it.' This is refreshingly blunt.
There is no detailed political story here, but on these sort of big points you feel Majd has probably got it right: the MEK is rightly loathed by most Iranians; Iranians' garden walls (the public/private divide) is still respected; the idea that the Diaspora Iranians will have any political influence is laughable; the Islamic Republic has massive and committed support, easily seen when Majd attended the revolution's anniversary party; there is no appetite for another violent revolution; the young are more interested in social freedoms than politics, the old in economic security; and so as long as the rulers remember their `Shia sensibilities', (the right of the righteous David to fight the oppressive Goliath) there will be no internal overthrow of the constitution Ayatollah Khomeini set up over thirty years ago.
So for me, there was no peering into Iran's soul; but it was a pleasant journey with plenty of enjoyable sights. If you enjoy travel writing, and want to find out more about Iran from a sensible and knowledgeable guide, this is a good place to start.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a witty quasi-anthropological account that goes much beyond the travelogue. I have understood more about Iran through this than through any other stuff I read. This guy is really an intellectual, he is absolutely amazing, and he writes in such a way that when i was reading the book on the train i was embarrassed at finding myself giggling!
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