A Persian Odyssey: Iran Revisited (Hardcover)

~ Rami Yelda (Author) "Breakfast was being served in the hotel's dining hall..." (more)
Key Phrases: haj aqa, chief cleric, mirror mosaics, United States, Reza Shah, Persian Gulf (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Learn about Iran, (ancient Persia) a fascinating and misunderstood country. -- Eden Naby Frye Amazon.com November 23, 2005

Learn about Iran, (ancient Persia) a fascinating and misunderstood country. --Eden Naby Frye Amazon.com November 23, 2005

Product Description

The author describes Iran’s long and glorious history, its geography, its art, religious practices, its poetry, its cuisine, but most importantly, the aspirations of its people. The book offers a great deal of information about Iran.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: A. Pankovich Publishers (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967210151
• ISBN-13: 978-0967210155
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,227,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars congratulating Dr. Yelda on the outstanding job toward promoting the Iranian culture, April 11, 2006

By	B sadeghi - See all my reviews

(A Persian Odyssey ),Iran Revisited, by Rami Yelda Gave as much information about Iranian history, the different dynasties, religions of our homeland, and the different places of interest during his short visit to Iran.

As per my interpretation, he did not intend to go into detail on every subject mentioned. In covering a vast amount of information, Dr. Yelda provides a wonderful overview to appeal to a wide audience with hopes to promote better understanding of Persian culture.

In addition, the book provides a valuable resource for second generation Iranians who wish to learn about our country. My three sons have not traveled to Iran so it was a pleasure to give each of them a copy as a gift on the New Year. All three of them enjoyed it.

I was born into a Moslem family in Tehran. In addition, I have witnessed numerous discriminations that we imposed upon the Iranians of different religious minorities, from different cities and provinces with different dialects and accents. I AM NOW ASHAMED OF IT.

If Dr. Yelda takes the time to explain some of these different ethnicities in this book, I applaud him for doing so. Lets be honest about it, in this day and age and especially in the wake of current events, why not promote an honorable attempt toward understanding instead of spending our energy ridiculing each other for it?

For years, I have gone to bookstores in search of books on Iranian culture to share with my children only to return empty handed and disappointed. Every other culture has been represented except Iran. After reading Dr. Yelda's book I was not only excited but also hoped hat it would encouraged many more books to be written on the subject of our culture.

From depth of my heart I am now congratulating Dr. Yelda on the outstanding job toward promoting the Iranian culture. He deserve many stars for his endeavor.

Barry Sadegi, MD.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another must read book on Iran, November 28, 2005

By	Simin H. Rasmussen (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

How Refreshing!! A book about Iran without a catchy name or a pretty girl on the cover! An informative and passionate account of going back to a home that in your heart you never left. Just like the carpet on the cover, this book is written with careful attention to details and with much love. A woven tapestry of observations, information and personal remembrances to take the reader along in a journey to a country that like its landscape has many extremes.

Rami Yelda who left Iran as a young man, returns after 40 years with a mature and a keen eye. He travels across the country and his account of places, history, architecture and the people he meets, gives readers an insight to a complex nation and its people.
This is a highly recommend book for anyone who is interested in understanding Iran and its people. A country that is as fine and colorful as its carpets and blue domes, and black as its oil.
Simin H. Rasmussen

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich, informative and informed travel account, November 23, 2005

By	Eden Naby Frye "Eden Naby - Cultural Historian" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author brings a successful physician's mature and well-traveled focus to bear on the land of his birth. An Assyrian with a strong sense of identity with Persian heritage and its wealth of art and history, Yelda returns in 2002 despite the momentous changes in 1979 that threw modern Iran into a strange spin away from a path leading toward modernity and toward its own peculiar form of fanatical Islamic society. Using dialogue with Iranians of many ethnic and regional backgrounds, as well as a good grounding in Iran's history, Yelda makes the culture of Iran available to the newcomer to the subject while at the same time interesting and useful to those familiar with Iran. The graceful turn of phrase and the beautiful prose style, both spare and detailed, help move the reader from the Tehran airport in its shabby officiousness to the streets of Urmie, the west Azarbaijan capital that until 1918 was home to Iran's largest Assyrian, neo-Aramaic speaking, and successful Christian population. Having lost many members of the generations of his family alive before 1918 to the barbarism that occurred then, Yelda cannot but help see this as the painful part of Iran's past that it is.

The author's eye for the beauty of Iran's momuments, its gardens, its shrines and far flung desert oases towns like Kerman and Yazd rounds out the writing of a man torn between his attachment to the Iran that was and his discomfort with the Iran that has come to be under a capricious and manipulative, but still powerful regime termed by his friends as a government of peasants with guns. He is sensitive to the ways in which women are treated under law, the way that non-Muslims survive, and the ever-present insecurity.

This is a lovely book written by a sensitive author. The best travel and history combination about Iran to come along in many years. If you liked Azar Naficy's READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN but want to visit outside Tehran too, this is the book to read.

Eden Naby Frye