Post #106 - Resources

Some of you may wish to become better informed about the nation and the people of Iran.  Here are some of my recommendations:

Non-Fiction

A journalist's take on US-Iran relations

• What Is Iran? A Primer on Culture, Politics and Religion, Laurie Blanton Pierce [overview -- highly recommended]
• Negotiating with Iran:  Wrestling the Ghosts of History, John W. Limbert [latest from one of the most knowledgeable persons about Iran in the West]
• A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan, Christiane Bird [society/politics]
• Iran and America: Rekindling a Love Lost, Badi Badiozamani, PhD
• [history, foreign policy]
• Jasmine and Stars: Reading More then Lolita in Tehran, Fatemeh Keshavarz
• [social commentary]
• Neither East Nor West: One Woman’s Journey through the Islamic Republic of Iran, Christiane Bird [insightful travelogue]
• Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran, Elaine Sciolino
• [contemporary society & politics]
• The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation, Sandra Mackey
• [history/culture]
• Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the U.S., Trita Parsi, PhD [history, geo-politics]



Recent book on the 1953 coup

• Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village, Erika Friedl[ethnography]
• The "Great Satan" vs. "The Mad Mullahs": How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, William Beeman [international affairs/psychology]
  Fiction

• The Siege of Isfahan, Jean-Christophe Rufin [novel]
• My Father's Notebook, Kader Abdollah [novel]
• Seven Shades of Memory, Terence O'Donnell [short stories by one of my Peace Corps trainers]
• The Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani [novel]
• A Year with Rumi, Coleman Barks [poetry]

Websites (all English-language) of General Interest (Politics, Arts, Popular Culture) 

• onestopirannews.com
• iranstories.com
• iranian.com
• irandokht.com
• niacouncil.org
• aslanmedia.com/i-heart-iran

Photo featured on iranian.com