This book offers a uniquely intimate look at Soltan Ahmad Mirza, was a prince—the forty-ninth son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, who ruled Iran from 1797 to 1834. [read more>>]

All memoirs bring the past into the present, but only a few manage to illuminate both simultaneously. French Hats in Iran, a quietly insightful masterpiece of remembrance, belongs in that select group. [read more>>]

“Candid and revealing[offers] a wealth of insights into Iranian society and culture.” – William Quandt, Foreign Affairs. [read more>>]

“Milani shows that long before the European Renaissance generated the radical ideas that eventually reshaped Europe and the United States, Persian statesmen, artists, and intellectuals had formulated ideas that strikingly anticipate those of modernity.…” – Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University . [read more>>]

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“An exceptional, emotionally blooded memoir. . . . That this [memoir] turns out to be a breathtaking example of the quiet, selfless gorgeousness of the memorist’s art is the reader’s good fortune. Milani offers classically ordered writing about character, place, and time. . . . [read more>>]

“The authors put the rather (to Western eyes) rectilinear gardens into context of surrounding landscape, buildings and the crucial subtle interactions of the shade, scent and color of plants and the all-important sound and sight of water. [read more>>]

“Explains more about the cultural context in which we must understand Iran than any other modern writer. [read more>>]

“A Thousand and One Nights meets Raise the Red Lantern in this tale of growing up among royal wives and concubines in what is now Iran . . . . [read more>>]

“Howard places in context the history and politics of gender in Iran, making this volume accessible to a popular audience.” – Library Journal, July 2002 . [read more>>]