From Laura Secor: six essential books on Iran
The former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's recent intervention in the unrest in Iran, in which he suggested that the current government had diverged from the principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution, is the latest twist in a political drama whose subtleties can be difficult for outsiders to divine. Laura Secor, a New Yorker contributor at work on a book about Iran, recently recommended a half-dozen books for readers in need of a crash course in Iran's complex recent history and politics:
"The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran," by Roy Mottahedeh, a professor at Harvard."An Islamic Utopian: A Political Biography of Ali Shari'ati," by Ali Rahnema. Shari'ati, Secor explains, "was the lay intellectual whose ingenious concoction of Shi'ism and Marxism helped ignite his country's revolution in 1979."
"Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran," by Ervand Abrahamian.
"The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom," by Afshin Molavi.
"Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope," by Shrin Ebadi.
And, finally, a novel: "The Septembers of Shiraz," by Dalia Sofer. It "tells the story of a Jewish family dispersed by the revolution -- into prison, Brooklyn, and the increasingly besieged family home in Tehran."
Secor made the recommendations on the New Yorker blog The Book Bench.
