Persian mirrors : the elusive face of Iran / Elaine Sciolino.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sciolino, Elaine, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iran--Politics and government--1979-1997.

Iran.

Politics and government.

Iran--Politics and government--1997-.

Iran--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

Sciolino, Elaine, 1948---Travel--Iran.

Sciolino, Elaine.

Travel.

Physical Description:

viii, 402 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, [2000]

Summary:

No American reporter has more experience covering Iran or more access to the private corners of Iranian society than Elaine Sciolino. As a correspondent for Newsweek and The New York Times, she has reported on the key events of the past two decades. She was aboard the airplane that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Tehran in 1979; she was there for the Iranian revolution, the hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the rise of President Mohammad Khatami, and the riots of the summer of 1999.

In Persian Mirrors, Sciolino takes us into the public and private spaces of Iran -- the bazaars, beauty salons, aerobics studios, courtrooms, universities, mosques, and the presidential palace -- to capture the vitality of a society so often misunderstood by Americans. She demystifies a country of endless complexity where, on the streets, women swathe themselves in black and, behind high walls, they adorn themselves with makeup and jewelry; where the laws of Islam are the law of the land, and yet the government advertises as tourist attractions the ruins of the pre-Islamic imperial capital at Persepolis and the synagogue where Queen Esther is said to be buried; and where even the most austere clerics recite sensual romantic poetry, insisting that it refers to divine, and not earthly, love. Iran is also a place with a dark side, where unpredictable repression is carried out, officially and unofficially, by forces intent on maintaining power and influence.

Sciolino deftly uses her travels throughout Iran and her encounters with its people to portray the country as an exciting, daring laboratory where experiments with two highly volatile chemicals -- Islam and democracy -- are being conducted.

Like the mirror mosaics found in Iran's royal palaces and religious shrines, there is more to the whole of the country than the fragments revealed to outsiders. Persian Mirrors captures this elusive Iran. Sciolino paints in astonishing detail and rich color the surprising inner life of this country, where a great battle is raging, not for control over territory but for the soul of the nation.

Contents:

Preface: Reflections and Distortions 1

Part 1 Navigating the Islamic Republic

Chapter 1 Getting There, Getting In 11

Chapter 2 Splendid Deception 26

Chapter 3 The Improvised Revolution 46

Chapter 4 The Mullah Wore Beautiful Shoes 68

Part 2 Private Lives, Women's Lives

Chapter 5 Leaving the Islamic Republic at the Door 93

Chapter 6 Sir, Have You Ever Beaten Your Wife? 109

Chapter 7 The Chanel Beneath the Chador 131

Part 3 The Spiritual, The Mystical

Chapter 8 Beloved of the Night 153

Chapter 9 Martyrs Never Die 172

Chapter 10 The World of Qom 190

Chapter 11 Space for the Outsiders 210

Part 4 Open Warfare

Chapter 12 Dark Nights, Fear of Waves 233

Chapter 13 The Tom and Jerry Game 249

Chapter 14 Night Is with Child 274

Chapter 15 A Republic in the Making? 294

Part 5 Dreams

Chapter 16 Making Money God's Way 317

Chapter 17 The Center of the Universe 336

Epilogue: The Bride Has Gone to Pick Flowers 359.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [379]-385) and index.

ISBN:

0684862905

OCLC:

44118126