My Prison, My Home: One Woman's Story of Captivity in Iran
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Then there are the wonderful friends and relatives in Iran who for eight months provided me and my mother with comfort and courage. They know that I am indebted to each one of them and why I refrain from mentioning their names.
A blanket thanks to the many leaders of human-rights organizations who spoke on my behalf, circulated petitions, and sponsored a vigil in New York. I wish especially to thank Elise Auerbach of Amnesty International and Hadi Ghaemi of Human Rights Watch and all those attended the New York vigil, as well as those across the country and around the world who remembered me in their prayers in churches, synagogues, and mosques. My daughter’s law school classmate, Corinne Richardson, went around New York City getting people to sign the Free Haleh petition—even people she came across in a shoe store. I know of many similar instances of volunteer work and am thankful to the perfect strangers who took up my cause. Glamour magazine editor Cindi Leive took up my cause. Christiane Amanpour featured me in a special broadcast on CNN.
I owe special thanks to my neighbors in Potomac, Maryland, who showed discretion and care when they were approached by the press, and who welcomed me home on my return. I feel fortunate to live among them.
I thank the organizations that honored me with awards and recognition after my release. I have tried to answer every card and phone call I received, but am sure I missed many. I know that I am back with my family because of their prayers and support.
Barbara Slavin, Michael Ross, Aaron David Miller, Shahrzad and Reza Ghotbi, and Jack Censer read the manuscript and gave me the benefit of their insights and advice.
My literary agent, Scott Moyers, not only ably represented me but has been a friend, offering sound advice at every stage as this book was written and took shape. Lee Boudreaux, my editor at Ecco, offered excellent editorial advice and helped me pare down a long manuscript, resulting in a leaner, sparer book. Abigail Holstein shepherded the book through the press. I also owe thanks to Ecco’s publisher, Dan Halpern, and to Michael McKenzie, Rachel Bressler, Mary Austin Speaker, Allison Saltzman, David Koral, and Mary Ann Petyak, who were involved in the copyediting, design, production, and promotion of this book.
This has not been an easy memoir to write, and I am not sure I could have finished it without the encouragement of my daughter and my husband. Shaul kept me company night after night until the late hours while I was writing and reliving these frightening experiences. He discussed every phase of the book with me, and sat through my agony, anger, and tears. His extraordinary patience and love pushed me past the final lines of the book.
About the Author
HALEH ESFANDIARI is a distinguished Iranian American public intellectual. The founding director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, she is the former deputy secretary general of the Women’s Organization of Iran and has taught at Princeton University. She has worked in Iran as a journalist and is the author of Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution. She lives in Maryland with her husband, Shaul Bakhash, a professor at George Mason University.
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ALSO BY HALEH ESFANDIARI
Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution
Credits
Jacket design by Allison Saltzman
Jacket photograph © Felipe Trueba / Alamy
Copyright
MY PRISON, MY HOME. Copyright © 2009 by Haleh Esfandiari. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-194189-4
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