Product Description

Filling a long-neglected gap in the travel writing of the region, Mirrors of the Unseen is a rare and timely portrait of the nation descended from the world's earliest superpower: Iran. Animated by the same spirit of exploration as its acclaimed predecessor, An Unexpected Light, and drawing on several years of independent travel and research, this thought-provoking work weaves together observations of life in contemporary Iran with history, politics, and a penetrating enquiry into the secrets of Islamic art. Generously illustrated with the author's own sketches and photographs, Mirrors of the Unseen is a rich, sensitive, and vivid account of a country and its culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #333086 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-02
• Released on: 2007-10-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Elliot (An Unexpected Light) traveled to Iran and returned with this finely detailed, timely portrait of a country and culture precariously balanced between East and West, dark and light, integration and Armageddon. Whether careening around the smog and traffic clogged capital city of Tehran in a battered cab or crawling through the rubble-strewn ruins of Persepolis, capital of the ancient Persian kings, Elliot's keen eye, supple mind and compelling way with words captures the rich, complex, contradictory essence of Iran, its history and people. Everywhere he travels, Elliot explores a central question—will Iran, a country with a deep and abiding history of scientific innovation, fine art, high culture and beauty, step into modernity or will the revolutionary mullahs, the guardians and promoters of Islamic fundamentalism, take the country further down the road of isolation. In the cities, a culture of duality exists—behind closed doors, liquor flows freely, music is enjoyed and women are free to express themselves fully. On the streets, however, religious extremism rules, manifested by squads of bearded enforcers looking out for infractions of their version of Islamic law. With Iran so central in the news, this is a good read for the armchair traveler and amateur geo-political strategist alike. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
In this penetrating account of a series of journeys to Iran, Elliot reports on the "double life" of the Persians he meets, who unanimously denounce the ruling mullahs. One insists that you're nobody in Iran if you haven't been imprisoned; another rolls his eyes at the author's obsessive trawling of mosques, protesting, "People will think I'm with a fanatic." The book is replete with historical arcana (such as the second-century Parthian tactic of catapulting jars of bloodsucking flies at enemies), ruminations on the "turbulent calligraphies" of Islamic architecture, and labyrinthine footnotes that threaten to leap off into tomes of their own. Elliot is a travel writer of the old school: untethered to an itinerary, eager to be led astray, and as ardent an observer of the experience of travelling as of his destination.
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From Booklist
Briton Elliot is the author of the beautifully written An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan (2001), in which his trips to that war-torn country were relived with graphic detail and trenchant understanding. His new book, equally stylish and meaty and compassionate, documents his journeys around another uneasy country. Elliot went to Iran for the purpose of writing another travel book, his desire to witness contemporary Iranian society in light of the shadow but also inspiration cast over it by the wealth of ancient Persian culture. No year in Provence, this author's traveling experiences will make armchair travelers gulp at the lack of creature comforts; on the other hand, splendid visual evidence of political and religious pasts will perhaps stir that very armchair traveler into ticket-holding action. Elliot visited the major cities as well as the smaller ones; his journeys took him over hill and dale. He knows Iranian history and culture, obviously, and equally obvious is his good sense, in composing travel literature, to smoothly integrate factual background into swiftly moving narrative foreground. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Seeing clearly
Excellent, interesting hearing from someone who actually put their foot on the ground and reported the good & the bad. From our news publications we obviously hear only one side of the story. It's this type of book that draws humanity together rather than expanding on the differences.

Detailed, Factual and Poetic
This book is a very detailed account of a British journalist's travels across Iran. It is packed with tons of details even if you really don't like them when reading diaries of a traveler. I am not sure if those detailed stuff were necessary at all. Any how, this book is fun to read. Takes you back and forth and give you a pretty good brief of the contemporary and ancient Iranian history and politics. Highly recommended if you want to learn about the Iranian ethnic minorities, Persian culture and language and food.

An interesting read for all ages!

A Deeper Understanding of Iran
When I picked up Mirrors of the Unseen, I was very excited since I had so enjoyed Jason Elliot's An Unexpected Light. At first, I was disappointed. In An Unexpected Light, Elliot concentrates on the people he met and the social structures he encountered. This was essential for understanding Afghanistan. Mirrors of Light is Elliot's impression of Iran. He sees the key to understanding Iran in the history of its people, as shown through the people themselves, the geography, and the art and architecture. Each of these provides important keys to understanding the Iranian psyche. In Elliot's view, these are much more important than the current fundamentalist regime. Once I grasped this emphasis, the book was much more interesting as well as enlightening.

Elliot sees the ancient Persian history, dating back three millennia, as the key to modern Iran. The deep understanding of faith, the past glories of Persia, and the representations of these glories in art and architecture are all interrelated. In Elliot's view, the current hot button of fundamentalist faith has only minimal effect on the values and lives of average people, much as many Americans and v ery spiritual, faithful people even if they don't buy into the fundamentalism that is espoused by many in the government.

Unfortunately the fundamentalism on both sides of the American - Iranian divide is what is reported in the press. Elliot gives us a view of Iran that can hopefully lead to peace rather than war.

By the way, IMHO I highly recommend that you IGNORE Elliot's Caveat Lector on page 319 and continue reading. If you skip these pages, you may miss the key to the entire book.