Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World
“This is the most comprehensive study to date of the life and times of Cyrus the Great, and it will be welcomed by scholars and the general public alike.” – Dr John Curtis, OBE, FBA, Keeper of Special Middle East Projects, The British Museum.[read more>>]
History of Bread in Iran
Since ancient times, bread has been the staple diet of the peoples living in the Iranian plateau. In History of Bread in Iran, Willem Floor, one of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, describes the beginnings of agriculture and bread-making, and the various grains and other products that were, and are, used to make bread.[read more>>]
Awake: A Moslem Woman’s Rare Memoir of Her Life and Partnership with the Editor of Molla Nasreddin, the Most Influential Satirical Journal of the Caucasus and Iran, 1907–1931
The marriage between Hamideh Khanum, the daughter of a leading aristocratic Azerbaijani family, and Mirza Jalil Mamadqulizadeh, founder and editor of the renowned satirical journal Molla Nasreddin, was a union of like-minded spirits.[read more>>]
Iranian National Identity and the Persian Language: Roles of the Court, Religion, and Sufism in Persian Prose Writing
In this insightful study of Iranian cultural history and national identity, Shahrokh Meskoob, one of Iran’s leading intellectuals, reviews the roles of three social classes, the courtiers and bureaucratic officials (ahl-e divan), the religious scholars (ulama), and the Muslim Gnostics (Sufi poets and writers), in the development and refinement of the Persian language..[read more>>]
French Hats in Iran
“From a gifted writer delightful, funny, evocative, enlightening, nostalgic stories about growing up in Iran in the 1940s. A must-read for anyone who wants to know how traditional, conservative Iranian households dealt with modernization.[read more>>]