State and Society in Iran by Homa Katouzian (I. B. Tauris, 2006)
The Persian Sphinx by Abbas Milani (Mage, 2009)
The Mantle of the Prophet by Roy Mottahedeh (Oneworld, 2008)
Treacherous Alliance by Trita Parsi (Yale University Press, 2008)
The Iran Primer, edited by Robin Wright (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2010)
FICTION AND POETRY BOOKS
The poetry of Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks (HarperOne, different years)
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Oxford University Press, 2009)
The poetry of Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin, different years)
Strange Times, My Dear, edited by Nahid Mozaffari and Ahmad Karimi Hakkak (Arcade Publishing, 2005)
My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, translated by Dick Davis (Modern Library, 2006)
You will also enjoy listening to the classic Persian music of Hossein Alizadeh, Kayhan Kalhor, Shahram Nazeri, and Mohammad Reza Shajarian and the modern Iranian music of Hitchkas, Kiosk, and Mohsen Namjoo.
Those interested in Iran should also watch the following films:
FICTION FILMS
Rakhshan Bani Etemad: Nargess and Under the Skin of the City
Asghar Farhadi: Fireworks Wednesday and About Elly
Bahman Ghobadi: A Time for Drunken Horses
Manijeh Hekmat: Women’s Prison
Abbas Kiarostami: The Traveler, Close-Up, and Ten
Majid Majidi: Baran and The Color of Paradise
Dariush Mehrjui: The Cow and The Tenants
Jafar Panahi: The Circle and Offside
Kambuzia Partovi: Border Café
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Mahnaz Afzali: The Red Card
Maziar Bahari: And Along Came a Spider and An Iranian Odyssey
Rakshan Bani Etemad: Our Times
Forough Farrokhzad: The House Is Black
Albert Lamorisse: The Lovers’ Wind
Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini: Divorce, Iranian Style
Mohsen Makhmalbaf: Salaam Cinema
Ebrahim Mokhtari: The Tenancy and Zinat
Mehrdad Oskouei: Nose, Iranian Style and The Other Side of Burka
Norma Percy: Iran and the West
Hamid Rahmanian: The Glass House
Kamran Shirdel: The Night It Rained
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MAZIAR BAHARI is an award-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker, and human-rights activist. A correspondent for Newsweek from 1998 to 2010, he was born in Tehran, Iran, and immigrated to Canada in 1988 to pursue his studies in film and political science. Bahari’s documentaries have been broadcast on stations around the world, including HBO, BBC, and the Discovery Channel. In 2009, he was named a finalist for Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, often described as Spain’s Nobel Peace Prize; he was nominated by Desmond Tutu. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
AIMEE MOLLOY is the co-author of three previous books: Jantsen’s Gift with Pam Cope; This Moment on Earth with Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry; and For God and Country with James Yee. She also served as an editor of Laurie Strongin’s Saving Henry. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.
Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival Page 36