Customer Reviews

Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran

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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, 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 down once started. Her description of the country and its people and her adventures there as a young reporter, and later as a mature professional, are vividly recounted. Her growth and gradual understanding provide a unique and honest viewpoint.

I lived in Iran for three years, a long time ago. I made wonderful friends and always felt very welcome in their homes. Iran is noted for its hospitality to guests. I have continued to maintain my interest in the country, culture and people. "Persian Mirrors" brought back many wonderful memories and helped me to understand the many changes that have taken place in Iran since I left. I recommend this book highly. It makes for fascinating reading, and you will learn much that is so relevant in today's world.
JANA

Elaine Sciolino is an Italian American who has been reporting on Iran for New York Times for over 20 years. In this book, she writes about different things- sometimes with great successes sometimes with great failure. She talks about her memories of the revolution when she was in the same plane as Ayatollah Khomeini. She writes about early days of revolution, Iran-Iraq war, ex-president Khatami, poetry, history, women, Persian jokes, Iran-US relationship, religion, Persian identity etc.
She seems to be capable of understanding many basics of Persian culture that most none-Persians are incapable of. However, her interviews have a fatal problem i.e. they are only based on a fraction of Iranian population. They mainly include people close to the government, religious figures, families of religious background and top businessmen. They are only -I estimate- a quartet of the middle class population. I do believe that this book does not show a general overview of Iranian society but still it gives a very good overview of one part of it.

The book has a chapter on Iranian women. The author appreciates Iranian women, their strength and their level of social participants. However, she only interview either political figures or low level workers. She never bothered to interview many female engineers, academics, practitioners who are not political but still have so much to say. In Iran, about 60 percent of university graduates and 30 percent of PhDs are female. In IT industry women outperform men. In Tehran there are more art galleries by female artists than male ones. Elaine shows no interest to these women. She only focuses on the fact that in Iran women have to hide their hair and wear scarf. Why it is so important to her? It sounded so strange to me.

Surprisingly she says: "in fact, the consensus among modern and traditional, secular and religious women in Iran is that if women were given a choice, the majority would probably choose to cover their heads in public in some way".

I disagree. I disagree so much. I think the author has been completely out of Iranian society (even when she traveled right there). The people she chose to interview prove that.

The author says "shoes often reveal class, wealth, religiosity, and Westernization". Well no comment.

In many parts of the book, directly or indirectly she gives this impression that "westernization" is equivalent to "civilization". Well I am not a Western but I come from the oldest civilization on the earth. I cannot read this book and do not feel offended.

When she writes about Iranian-American political relationship, she writes defensively, which is understandable. But she being a reporter, from her I expected more neutrality.

I suggest this book to be read while keeping in mind that Elaine has no academic background on history or sociology. In addition, I have to say that her study is not designed in away that can produce unbiased reliable results. She must choose her samples from all over the place not only from where her limited Iranian friends (mainly government related) have some interest in.

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.

What the writer wanted us to understand was that women can still have a life under oppression so they should just live this life.I felt that the writer was sympathetic to the Mullahs and their families. Most of the women she had interviewed were from the rulling class. And I was astund when she called Azam Taleghani a defender of women's rights. Azam Taleghani in an interview with Marie Claire magazine in Spring of 1997 in an article by Jan Goodwin stated that "if my own daughter commits adultry I ask for her death with stoning, the law is the law." The book is not real.

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 tired of those same stereotypical images of Iran, then this is the book for you. I put down the book with a much more positive view of the country and its people. Iran is an amazingly complex country and Ms Sciolino does a wonderful job of making it real for me.

I highly recommend this book.

Very well versed book by a non-Iranian who comes very close to being an Iranian. I appreciate all the hard work that Ms. Sciolino has put into creating this great work. I wished that the state department pundits use this book along with two other very well written books recently published about Iran- Abbas Milani's book about Hoveyda and Robin Wright's book- before saying anything about Iran. As a professional, I am amazed how little these people actually know about Iran and how little they even try to understand that culture. If they had done so, maybe Iran-US relations was in a better shape than it is right now. Ms. Sciolino has done a maginificant job understanding many positives and some negatives in Iranian's culture.

My many thanks to her and I look forward to many more of her writings about Iran in NYT and elsewhere.

After reading the review by reader tshams, I must object to what is a rather unbalanced critique. Contrary to what this reader suggests, Ms. Sciolino juxtaposes many of the contradictions which exist in modern Iranian society, and strives to provide a balanced picture throughout this work. Just as any American might cringe at some of the appraisals of our culture to be heard in other countries, it is understandable that, as an Iranian, this reader might find some of Ms. Sciolino's descriptions unappealing. However, and perhaps most importantly, this is one American woman's personal experience and perspective of life in Iran, and as such, no one can really contradict her experience. A propos to the reader's comments regarding women being beaten for not being covered in public, Ms. Sciolino goes on at some length about the ironies concerning the chador (she shows that some women eschew the wearing of this garment in modern Iran), and shows as well the liberation and empowerment these women seek, and enjoy, in their lives in and out of the public arena. Ms. Sciolino's most unique contribution to an understanding of Iranian society is that, besides being a skilled observer and reporter, she is a woman, and enjoys unique entrée to areas of Iranian society which are closed off to men, and as such, can report unique perspectives on this society which the average (male) correspondent cannot. I thoroughly enjoyed her insights and descriptions of a society about which this reader had many skewed, Western-media-influenced opinions. Her writing goes far to counter the many misconceptions held regarding the modern state of Iran.

The author of this curious reportage informs the reader that personal expression is entirely possible under the rule of the mullahs in Tehran- provided you know where you open your mouth and what you say.Was it not the same in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia?
In the past year alone 57 newspapers, magazines and periodicals have been shut in the Islamic Republic of Iran ( See: Annual Report of the Reporters Without Border- May 3,2002).
There are at least 10,000 political prisoners in Iran ( See: Amnesty International Annual Report on Iran-2002).
Iran,the richest of all Muslim states until 1979 has been turned into one of the many poor and struggling states described , rather patronisingly, as " developing nations."
Women are forced to wear the dreadful " hijab", a dress and headgear invented by the religious fascists in the 1970s.
It is interesting that the Ms Sciolino can be hostile to the Taleban in Afghanistan but sympathetic to their Iranian version.
The problem with this book is not only that it is morally reprehensible: it is like someone writing a book to " humanise" Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia.
Married to an Iranian I am a frequent visitor to the Islamic Republic where many courageous people are fighting for human rights and democracy. Ms. Sciolino mentions none of them.
The key problem is the writer's disregard for facts which she arranges in such a way as to put the murdrous mullahs in the best possible light.( I have a list of 214 such faslificatoions in her book!)
Not surprisingly Ms Sciolino is a darling of the Tehran establishment.
Her book has received high praise from the same fanatics who sentenced Salman Rushdie to death in 1989.
Her articles are often translated published by the official news agency in support of the claim that the American public love the mullahs while the US adminisration, supposedly manipulated by the " Jewish Lobby", regards it as part of " the axis of evil."
She is also frequently feted in Tehran where she is valued as one of the mercifully few Western journalists who are prepared to turn their face the other way when mass murder is commited in the name of ideology. Sad, sad, sad. Pierre Benedile