Tag Archives: Persia-Iran

Neither East nor West

Posted on June 8, 2017 by smellincoffee

Neither East Nor West: One Woman’s Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran© 2001 Christiane Bird396 pages Christiane Bird didn’t have an ordinary childhood. Her father was a doctor attached to a Presbyterian mission a world away, in Iran.  They … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Zero Day

Posted on May 27, 2017 by smellincoffee

Countdown to Zero Day:  Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon© 2014 Kim Zetter448 pages A couple of years ago I created a new label, ‘digital world’, in recognition of the fact that the Internet is no … Continue reading →

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Confront and Conceal

Posted on May 13, 2017 by smellincoffee

Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of Power 496 pages © 2012 David E. Sanger Barack Obama may have been the only Nobel Peace Prize winner in history to order lethal force used on a regular basis, … Continue reading →

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The Twilight War

Posted on January 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Twilight War: the Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year War with Iran656 pages© 2013 David Crist  In the presidential campaign of 2008, John McCain made plain what kind of aggressive foreign policy he would pursue by half-singing a chipper little … Continue reading →

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Laughing Without an Accent

Posted on January 9, 2017 by smellincoffee

Laughing without an Accent: Adventures of a Global Citizen© 2008 Firoozeh Dumas256 pages In 2003, Firoozeh Dumas charmed readers with stories about her transoceanic childhood, unfolding in both in Iran and the United States in the 1970s. This sequel to … Continue reading →

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Lost Enlightenment

Posted on November 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane © 2015 S. Frederick Starr618 pages Lost Enlightenment takes readers back to a time when Central Asia was the crossroads of the world, a hub of both commercial and … Continue reading →

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Jasmine and Stars

Posted on October 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran© 2007 Fatemeh Keshavarz180 pgs Fatemeh Keshavarz’s Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran rebukes Azar Nefisi and other writers for contributing to a ‘new Orientalism’ that looks at Iran … Continue reading →

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All the Shah’s Men

Posted on May 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror© 2003 Stephen Kinzler272 pages On one  dismal  night in 1953,  a conspiracy destroyed both Iranian democracy and American honor.  At the dawn of the 1950s, Iran was … Continue reading →

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The Persians

Posted on May 25, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Iran© 2009 Homa Katouzian452 pages Come, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings. It’ll take a while, because there’s been a lot of them.The Persians: Ancient, … Continue reading →

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In God’s Path

Posted on May 21, 2016 by smellincoffee

In God’s Path: the Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire© 2015 Robert Hoyland303 pages A Roman author referred to the Roman and Persian empires as the two eyes of the world — but they didn’t see the … Continue reading →

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