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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Irandoost: Lover of Iran,
By
This review is from: Greater Iran: A 20th-century Odyssey (Hardcover)
Richard N. Frye's Greater Iran is a mixture of autobiography and memoirs of Harvard University's retired Aga Khan Professor of Iranian. After 60 years of researching and writing history books about Iran, from ancient to recent history, Professor Frye has written an outstanding story of his personal experiences living and researching in the region. To Professor Frye, his 60 years of travel in the region was an odyssey. The real life hardships and the risks of the odyssey will be more fascinating to many readers than the fictional Indiana Jones movies.
From 1971 to 1972, I studied Persian (Farsi) at Harvard University. Professor Frye came to my home for my wife Badri's Persian dinners and for discussions about Iran. During his five years of service as director of the Asia Institute of Pahlavi University (now the University of Shiraz), I had the opportunity to join him once for dinner in his Qajar-period home. Persian author and poet Ali Akbar Dehkhuda called Professor Frye Irandoost (lover of Iran). There are probably few Iranians who can rival Professor Frye's passion for a glorious Persian culture (Persian poetry, music, art, and architecture) over a 3,000-year period. The title of the book refers to the entire region where Iranian languages were and are spoken. Professor Frye worked also in Afghanistan and in Tajikistan. Greater Iran includes also the Caucasus and Central Asian regions. Total immersion into research of a culture over a 3,000-year period requires an immense commitment. In addition to living in a region during current times, a researcher cannot analyze original documents without mastering the languages of a region over such a long period of time. For Iran, this means an intense study at least of Avestan, Old Persian, Pahlavi (Middle Persian), and of Sogdian. Fake antiquities are a big business in the Middle East. Professor Frye included pictures of pages from a fake manuscript and stories of his encounters with producers and sellers of fake antiquities. Spies and political struggles are no strangers to the Middle East. Professor Frye included stories of his meetings with political leaders, such as Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and with spies. Major consequences of American intervention in Iran in 1953 remain to this day. Such an intense passion for a career can come with a huge personal price. Professor Frye included details of his divorce and of re-marriage. Professor Frye's legacy includes also the students who went on to become ambassadors, professors, and others who are passionate about Iran. Sir Roger Stevens' The Land of the Great Sophy is an example of the depth of appreciation for Iran of a British ambassador. The American Foreign Service could benefit from the examples of Professor Frye and of Sir Roger Stevens by requiring foreign service officers to remain in and to master the language and culture of a single country or region. America fought a long war in Vietnam but has an American embassy in Vietnam today. America did not fight a war in Iran but has no American embassy in Iran (or in several other countries) today. After September 11, 2001, some Americans believe that CIA stands for Central Ignorance Agency, not Central Intelligence Agency. Many members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, have chosen instead to accept political contributions and misinformation from the Rajavi cult (also known as the MEK or MKO, a Marxist terrorist organization responsible for murdering American military officers, Rockwell International employees, and many innocent persons in the Middle East). America's war on terrorism needs to begin at home by declaring war on ignorance and corruption in America. In 1932, a single book changed the life of Professor Frye. While a high school student in Danville, Illinois, Richard N. Frye saw in the bookstore's window Harold Lamb's Tamerlane, the Earth Shaker. Hopefully, Professor Frye's Greater Iran will inspire many young readers to understand deeply and explain another culture. Perhaps, then, future voters and political leaders will be able to reject the ignorant views of those who call for wars against anyone they do not understand. So great is his love for Iran that on a recent trip to Iran, Professor Frye met with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to request permission someday "... to be interred in the mausoleum of the late Arthur Upham Pope on the banks of the Zayendeh River in Isfahan ...." (page 322) Professor Paul Sheldon Foote California State University, Fullerton pfoote@fullerton.edu
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Delighful Reading,
By Cameron Parsa (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Greater Iran: A 20th-century Odyssey (Hardcover)
These memoirs of a founder of Middle Eastern studies at U.S. institutions reveal more than the events of a life spent in intimate contact with many peoples of Eurasia. Although mainly concerned with "Greater Iran" (Afghanistan, Iran/Persia and Tajikistan), Richard Nelson Frye, Aga Khan professor of Iranian emeritus at Harvard University, describes changes which he witnessed there and elsewhere, making observations that are timely to understanding present-day relationships in the region. One of the first Western scholars to visit Central Asia after the death of Joseph Stalin, his knowledge of many languages enabled Frye to report on conditions in that hitherto little known region. In the course of subsequent trips to the USSR, the friendships he formed gave him unique insights about Soviet intellectuals concerned with the greater Iranian world. Life in Afghanistan and Persia (Iran) before the great changes that have transformed the area since the 1970s form a major part of this book. A much traveled Orientalist of the "old school," Frye's interaction with Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, Sadruddin Aga Khan, Bobojon Gafurov, Fikri Seljuki, Roman Ghirshman, Henry Corbin, as well as Nathan Pusey of Harvard, and various shapers of US policy toward Iran and Iranian Studies, are especially noteworthy. Personal matters are not forgotten, since some readers will wish to know how a boy from a small Midwestern town became so enamored with Iran and Central Asia that he devoted his life to investigating and explaining their history and cultures. These memoirs are not only a record of the past, but also of recent visits to old haunts that have evoked comments about the future of the Middle East and Central Asia.
About the Author Retired after more than sixty years of study, research and teaching at Harvard University, Prof. Frye is now engaged in lectures and promoting Iran. Living in the Near East and Central Asia has given him a much broader view of the area than merely study and the reading of books. Also as an employee of Afghan, Iranian and Tajik governments, rather than simply a member of a foreign institution, or as a tourist, has been a unique experience, shaping his views of lands and peoples. His writings reveal an intimate knowledge not only of the past of those areas where Iranian people live, but also an understanding of the present. In a reversal of the usual maxim, he says that in order to understand the past one must study the present.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a passionate memoir,
By
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This review is from: Greater Iran: A 20th-century Odyssey (Hardcover)
Dr. Frye has written a sincere memoir of the time he has spent in the Mid-Asian countries, especially Iran. This is a great work reflecting his passion toward the outstanding work he has done on the history of Iran and her neighbors.
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