Product Description

In the first anthology of its kind, Lila Azam Zanganeh argues that although Iran looms large in the American imagination, it is grossly misunderstood—seen either as the third pillar of Bush's infamous "axis of evil" or as a nation teeming with youths clamoring for revolution.

This collection showcases the real scope and complexity of Iran through the work of a stellar group of contributors—including Azar Nafisi and with original art by Marjane Satrapi. Their collective goal is to counter the many existing cultural and political clichés about Iran. Some of the pieces concern feminism, sexuality, or eroticism under the Islamic Republic; others are unorthodox political testimonies or about race and religion. Almost all these contributors have broken artistic and cultural taboos in their work.

Journalist Reza Aslan, author of No God But God, explains why Iran is not a theocracy but, rather, a "mullahcracy." Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer and human rights activist who was jailed in Iran and is currently a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, argues that the Iranian Revolution actually engendered the birth of feminism in Iran. Journalist Azadeh Moaveni reveals the underground parties and sex culture in Tehran, while Gelareh Asayesh, author of Saffron Sky, writes poignantly on why Iranians are not considered white in America, even though they think they are. Poet and writer Naghmeh Zarbafian expounds on the surreal experience of reading censored books in Iran, while Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran, recalls the happy days of Iranian Jews. With a sharp, incisive introduction by Lila Azam Zanganeh, this diverse collection will alter what you thought you knew about Iran.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148364 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This timely little book offers a thoughtful, wide-ranging and captivating introduction to a dynamic country most Americans still regrettably associate with romantic-exotic or religious-fanatical stereotypes. Centering on questions of identity and subjectivity in and outside Iran's Islamic Republic, the 15 prominent indigenous and ex-pat voices showcased in this collection include bestselling authors Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran), Azadeh Moaveni (Lipstick Jihad) and Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), as well as renowned filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Oscar-nominated actress Shoreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) and acclaimed visual artist Shirin Neshat. The brief, often breezy essays, reminiscences, reportage and interviews overturn the facile image of Iran as a single, homogenous entity, providing animated discussions of politics, sex, art, women's rights, racism, poetic culture, underground nightlife, Tehran's Jewish community, censorship, economic inequality and cross-cultural (mis)understanding under a regime that is highly oppressive but continually subverted. Arranged and framed with care by editor Zanganeh (and featuring original art by Satrapi), the book's contents resist an overarching, dogmatic point of view, presenting instead an open-ended invitation to dialogue. Readers will find this volume complex but accessible; it reveals the human stories behind the veil of the headlines. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
A seemingly devout cleaning lady sweeps a client's living room while pornography plays on the TV. A comp-lit class analyzes Milan Kundera's Identity (1998) in a translation deleting two major components, sex and gender equality. Women's clothing mannequins gradually lose their femininity, including their faces, replaced by cardboard disks, and their hands, replaced by cylinders. Of such is life in Iran's capital, Tehran, home, at least originally, of most of the artists and intellectuals contributing to this collection. Together, they raise the flag of hope for a freer culture, though the only basis they show for that hope is their and their peers' talent and integrity. Reza Aslan, author of No god but God (2005), ruefully acknowledges that, despite Tehranians' disdain for the mullahs--a taxi is as likely to run one down as pick him up, he says--many more Iranians want the "mullahcracy." Other imaginative and provocative voices herein include filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Oscar-nominated actress Shohbeh Aghdashloo, and graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, 2003). Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Lila Azam Zanganeh graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris, France, and has a master's in international affairs from Columbia University. She has taught at Harvard University and has worked for NBC News as a Middle East specialist. Azam Zanganeh has also written for the New York Times; she lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Iranian eye opener
I was surprised by what I found inside, and a bit shocked. Iran
has two cultures living within each other. There is a desperate air
of frustration of a people forced to live within the confines of
policies dictated by fundamentalism that is an uncomfortable fit
given the history of the country. Definitely recommend it.

A complicated conversation
My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes understands that the articulation of Iran must be incomplete--that the contributors to this volume, women and men, give us their conversations, their essays, their reminiscences, is a gracious endeavor to color and shade a contemporary depiction of Iran which is very black and white. The voices in this book are varied and intelligent, and their stories offer a complicated look at a country, a history, nationalism, and the very notion of `home.' I loved it.

Another Disappointment
Another series of theses full of superlatives that fail to capture any meaningful understanding of what is happening in Iran: Here, religion is bad, good and evil are simplified/linear and all is either surreal or superficial. It ignores the larger Iran as a whole and focuses on two marginal but very visible groups, the semi-intellectual immigrants outside and the semi-intellectual urbanites inside. All the while, 2/5 of Iran's population lives in rural areas. Of those in urban areas, a large number are rural transplants who are religious and fanatic but literate and vocal. Where are the analyses and stories of these real Iranians who decide the fate of the country?

Iran is not a country hijacked by a group of aliens, as most Western intellectuals portray it (as they do in this book), it is much more complex and full of dichotomies and contradictions that cannot be broken down into bite sized one-size-fits-all analysis.

Ms. Nafisi should coordinate a tour of rural schools, Mr. Aslan should spend a year doing field research in out of way places in Iran, and Ms. Satrpai would benefit from light stroll in the slums of Southern Tehran.

Read this for its amusing self-deception than its claim to be a real window into the soul of Iran.