Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir [Hardcover]

Abbas Milani (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0934211477 | ISBN-13: 978-0934211475 | Publication Date: February 1996 | Edition: lst ed

"Tales of Two Cities is an engrossing, cross-cultural memoir of revolution and exile. It is the story of a fifteen year-old Persian boy sent for his education from an old-world, pre-oil boom Tehran, to the new-world, avant-garde San Francisco of the 1960s. Abbas Milani richly chronicles his education, politicization, return to Iran, disillusionment and eventual exile. Interwoven with the brisk narrative is a loving account of the traditional Iran of the author's childhood; a searing memoir of a lost generation of Iranians torn apart by revolution and exile, a graphic portrait of the author's time in the shah's jail and of his cellmates, the mullahs who would soon emerge as the new leaders of the Islamic Republic. "Tales of Two Cities is not only the odyssey of one intellectual doomed to exile, but also a message of hope and ultimately salvation for the increasing number of people forced to leave their homeland and settle in America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Milani, an expatriate Iranian professor, has written an interesting memoir. The son of a prosperous family, Milani was sent overseas to be educated. He lived in Oakland, California, in the 1960s, where he listened to political sermons by Bobby Seale, participated in anti-Shah demonstrations, and studied Maoism. Returning to Iran in the 1970s, he taught at the National University until his anti-Shah activities led to his imprisonment. While in prison, he discovered that prisoners segregated themselves by ideology, the imprisoned religious opponents of the regime wanting no interaction with the imprisoned secular opponents-an ominous taste of what would come after the Islamic revolution. Freed before the revolution, Milani returned to teaching until the pressures exerted on freedom of thought by the Shi'ite clerics' regime became intolerable, and Milani fled Iran. A great deal of information about Iran is contained in this volume, from the Shi'ite clerics' obsession with hierarchy to Iranians' favorite conspiracy theories explaining the forces behind Iran's Islamic revolution. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., Minn.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A consistently dramatic and moving memoir." -- The San Francisco Chronicle

"An exceptional, emotionally blooded memoir. . . . A breathtaking example of the quiet, selfless gorgeousness of the memorist's art. Milani offers classically ordered writing about character, place, and time. . . . The entire memoir is infused with the perversity, nightmarishness, and occasional strange sweetness of growing up amid religious rule and ritual. This is a tale on whose every word readers will hang." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Candid and revealing. . . . A wealth of insights into Iranian society and culture. Along the way Milani also makes acute observations about American society." -- Foreign Affairs

"Milani paints powerful portraits of life under siege. . . . An effective and powerful blend of the personal and political, Milani's memoirs try to create cohesion and meaning from his own fragmented past and Iran's recent tragic history." -- Vancouver Sun

"[Milani's] reflections on the Iranian revolution in particular, are very impressive." -- The Oregonian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Mage Publishers; lst ed edition (February 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934211477
• ISBN-13: 978-0934211475
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,580,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving memoir by a brilliant mind, May 9, 2010

By 

John Wythe White (Haleiwa, HI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir (Paperback)

I have had the pleasure and the enlightening experience of traveling with Abbas Milani on a Stanford University travel/study tour to Morocco. His lectures on Islam were concise and highly informative. Back home, I purchased his memoir about life in Iran and Berkeley, California. It's short, sweet and paints a vivid picture of growing up in a rapidly-changing Tehran during the later years of the Shah and the early years of the revolution. In Tehran Dr. Milani spent a year in prison for his pro-democratic views, and in Berkeley he was a student activist. His reflections on these experiences make for great reading. If you enjoy this book, please check out his many other writings in magazines and newspapers, which are equally insightful and easily accessible on the Internet, as well as his soon-to-be-published book about the reign of Shah of Iran.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that I adored., February 3, 2010

By 

Andrew Desani "Chakhmi" (Northern California.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir (Paperback)

Much of what I wanted to say was already told on all above reviews. I would like to add that this is the book that I actually finished reading, as I had tried so many others on the subject of "new Iran" and was hard to connect with. This is a memoir that is hard not to like it and after reading few pages I was already living on the days and years that the author was painting.
Thanks professor Milani for such an excellent recount of Irans turmoils on 70-90's.