Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir
Milani, an expatriate Iranian professor, has written an interesting memoir. The son of a prosperous family, Milani was sent overseas to be educated. He lived in Oakland, California, in the 1960s, where he listened to political sermons by Bobby Seale, participated in anti-Shah demonstrations, and studied Maoism. Returning to Iran in the 1970s, he taught at the National University until his anti-Shah activities led to his imprisonment. While in prison, he discovered that prisoners segregated themselves by ideology, the imprisoned religious opponents of the regime wanting no interaction with the imprisoned secular opponents-an ominous taste of what would come after the Islamic revolution. Freed before the revolution, Milani returned to teaching until the pressures exerted on freedom of thought by the Shi'ite clerics' regime became intolerable, and Milani fled Iran. A great deal of information about Iran is contained in this volume, from the Shi'ite clerics' obsession with hierarchy to Iranians' favorite conspiracy theories explaining the forces behind Iran's Islamic revolution. Recommended for public and academic libraries.Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., Minn.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.