Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran

Elaine Sciolino, now a senior writer in the Washington bureau of The New York Times, has probably more experience covering Iran than any other American journalist and has reported on events there for over two decades. As a former foreign correspondent for Newsweek Magazine, Ms. Sciolino was aboard the airplane that brought the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Teheran in 1979. In fact, she knowingly risked her life on the trip as the plane was under threat of being shot down by the Iranian air force. The Shah's generals had devised a plan to shoot down the plane and presented the details to President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor. The Carter administration wanted no part of it. She was present for the Iranian revolution, the American hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq war and many other important events, including the riots of 1999. She writes, "I never went to Iran for the night life. I went for a revolution, a war, and an embassy seizure. And I kept going back." Through Iranian colleagues, friends and political contacts, she has had much access to Iranian life on all levels, and her keen observations provide an accurate source of information on this complex society, its people and its politics. In "Persian Mirrors" she maps the cultural, political, and social history of Iran since its Islamic Revolution. The book contains hard-news, but Sciolino's mission was to write "a portrait of my own encounters with Iran, and with the Iranian people, in the hope it can illuminate whatever choices or predictions others make." The memoir is organized by topic. After the first introductory sections, Sciolino explores the roles of women in Iran, (a topic I found absolutely fascinating), the role of religion, the dark side of life under a repressive government, and many Iranians' hopes for a politically reformed future. She portrays the grim realities of everyday life in Iran and the creative ways many people have found to make life better for themselves and their families.Ms. Sciolino takes the reader along with her to the bazaars, beauty salons, aerobics studios, courtrooms, universities, mosques, palaces, and even a wedding in this extraordinary country. She portrays a vital society too long overlooked. The country is a mass of contradictions, she writes. Iranians make a distinct separation between Persian culture, (and they are extremely proud of their rich heritage), and modern Iranian culture. From the pre-Islamic capitol at Persepolis to the synagogue where Queen Esther is said to be buried, we travel with the author. We learn that the clerics who recite sensual classic Persian romantic poetry insist that the poems refer to divine love. Many of the country's leaders and citizens want to move forward and press for change, while others want to return the country to a distant past. The principle quandary is how to achieve democracy in an Islamic country. Ms Sciolino's concise eyewitness prose kept me turning the pages. It is difficult to put this book d

Elaine Sciolino has written an exquisite, penetrating, savvy book about a much misunderstood country. As a fellow journalist who has covered Iran (post-1997), I can assure readers that Ms. Sciolino's reporting on Iran's democracy movement is accurate, balanced, and insightful. Of course, that is what we would expect from her. More importantly, however, I think her book's importance lies in the voices of Iranians woven throughout the narrative. She casts a wide net in gathering these voices -- we hear from hard-liners, pro-democracy students, traditional clerics, secular dissidents, artists, young people, war veterans, economic have-nots, wealthy barons, and the leading voices in Iran's growing pro-democracy movement. Ms. Sciolino also opened windows onto the lives of Iranian women that are hard for male journalists to penetrate. The constellation of voices heard throughout her book makes it extremely valuable for any reader interested in Iranian affairs.Iran is a complex society and country. It is an old land that does not lend itself easily to interpretation. Iran has fooled many Western journalists before and will continue to fool them again. Ms. Sciolino does not fall into the usual traps. On those occasions when she interprets Iranian culture, she does it well, a fruit of 20-plus years of consistent reporting on the country.I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in going beyond the headlines of Iranian affairs and journeying with a correspondent that clearly displays an empathy and understanding for the people she covers. This is a nice journey into Iran with a good travel partner, who is knowledgeable, sometimes cheeky, entertaining, and sympathetic. I highly commend Chapters 9 and 12.

Elaine Sciolino has done a fine job with this book. What a lot of people tend not to realise about Iran is that the vast majority of its population is under the age of thirty, and that most of them are women, who are either highly educated or are in the process of becoming highly educated. Given this fact, I think the west needs to look beyond the chador and the hejab. A highly educated populace, even when it exists in a theocracy like Iran, can have a far greater impact on the future of any region. This one facet of Iranian demographics should give many nations, including the United States, some pause. Iran's leaders would do well to also take careful notice of its young population. In a few more years, Iran may become a power to be reckoned with in the region, and Ms. Sciolino is quite eloquent in making this fact clear. "Persian Mirrors" is easily the equal to Robin Wright's "The Last Revolution" published last year.

The reviewer who thought this was too critical of Iran missed the nuance. This is a book that explains this complex country in an authoritative and extremely accessible way, written by an American journalist who has traveled there repeatedly for the last 20 years. Her empathy, perceptiveness and even affection are on vivid display. An NPR interviewer in Seattle called it a "page-turner." And so timely! It captures the intense drama that is playing out today in Iran--a battle between Islam and democracy--at a time when we still don't know the ending. But the best stuff is about women in Iran--the hair salons, aerobics studios, fashion design houses, kitchens, swimming pools. Written with great voice, and charm.

For the last twenty years America's relations with Iran have been strained to say the least. Among the most enduring images is the glowering face of Ayatollah Khomenei. Certainly, it has always been easier to potray Iran, a country that loudly calls the US "The Great Satan, as a land filled with fanatic fundamentalists that repress their women and continually threaten the tenuous stability of the entire Middle East. However, after reading Ms Sciolino's highly recommended book, one will walk away with much more balanced, and indeed, positive view of a country that is more than simply the first Islamic state. As the author shows us, the history of Iran and Persia stratches back for thousands of years. Ms Sciolino was literally there from the beginning. Her description of those wild few days when the Ayatollah left Paris and returned to Iran are thrilling. The imagery was so vivid, and I could picture myself standing by her side as the airplane doors opened in Tehran to hundreds of thousands of Iranians waiting for the return of their spiritual leader. She ably describes her thrill at being there, but also the fear. What would happen when the door opened? Even earlier, would the US shoot down the plan (apparently something actually contemplated!)? The city was in total chaos and tension comes through clearly. Ms Sciolino does a wonderful job of reconstructing the past 20 years of Iranian history. As a NY Times reporter, the majority of her writing is from first hand experience. It seems she has meet virtually everyone of any significance in Iran. However, she is able to share so much more with us than simple facts that can be found anywhere. We go with her inside the current president's house. We meet his family. Ms Sciolino has a terrific eye for detail and we see what kind of paintings are on the wall and other odds and ends that truly humanize the presiedent and his family. Her descriptions of the eight year war with Iraq are stunning. A war that in the West has been completely forgotten. But not in Iran where it literally wiped out a generation. Ms Sciolino tells us the enormous impact this war had on the country. An impact from which it appears Iran is still recovering. I had no idea that 60% of the entire population is under 25! As I said earlier, Ms Sciolino interviews, and spends time with, all the major figures in Iran. But what made the book so rewarding for me were her depictions of ordinary life. Prticularly of the life of women. She brillantly evokes the dual lives so many women are leading. For example, wearing Chanel suits under their chadors. Their participation in sports is very interesting. She describes a scene of a women's aerobic class in someone's house. I couldn't believe that the same women who walk around in public covered from head to toe, can then show up in a leopard leotard in an aerobics class. Great stuuf that the book is filled with.This is the real strength of the book. If you are ti