"Too many books, too little time. Overwhelmed by all the books on Iran? This panel of seven scholars helps sort them out. TOPIC: The People and "Feel" of Iran: 'Daughter of Persia' by Sattareh Farman Farmaian -- Subtitled 'A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Revolution'. This is a riveting personal story that breathes life and humanity into the many sociological studies of how Iran's early encounters with the West and modernity brought upheaval and dislocation to Iranian society. 'Daughter of Persia' provides a real human dimension."Iran Times: "The Starter Shelf", March 19, 1999 - page B-5
"A memoir of growing up in a harem, written by the third child of the third wife of a rich, influential member of Iran's Qajar Dynasty."
New York Times: "Books Worth Reading, Non-Fiction"
"In this poignant autobiography, Farman Farmaian brings Persian history and culture alive. . .Highly recommended for all libraries."
Library Journal
"Determined to be something, Ms. Farman Farmaian had to wait for her fathers' death. Then, she finally convinced her mother to let her study in America, knowing inside the wall of the harem only as 'the land at the end of the earth.' . . . [s]he produced this loving memoir, which both describes her lost world and, at the same time, explains why it had to disappear."
Geraldine Brooks
The Wall Street Journal: "A Woman Who Would Be Something"
"As she relives the terror of being arrested and interrogated by the revolutionaries, she also allows us a unique glimpse into her doubts and regrets. Struggling against the overwhelming sense of betrayal and fear, she admits defeat. Yet she emerges from her painful ruminations, as she did decades ago from the inner sanctum of her father's realm, defiant and exuberant.
"The reader too will share the optimism of Sattareh's search for the intersection between her own life history, and that of her nation."
Nasrin Rahimieh
Washington Post: "The Lost World"
"Sattareh Farman Farmaian is a woman of great courage. In Daughter of Persia, she offers a lesson about the value of personal freedom and what happens to a nation when its people are denied the right to direct their own destiny. This is a book Americans should read."
Barbara D. Schiappa
Washington Post: "A Long Journey From The Harem"
"Sattareh Farman Farmaian has given us a remarkable personal story as well as a succinct history of her enigmatic and exasperating homeland."
Elaine Kendall
Los Angeles Times: "Woman's Story Is a Beguiling Tale of Iran"
"Farmaian has long been one of the Middle East's most vocal fighters for human progress: her autobiography reflects an extraordinary upbringing and perspective and shouldn't be missed by any with a special interest in Middle Eastern affairs."
Midwest Book Review Newsletter
San Francisco, CA
"A book of great depth and richness, Sati's eloquent first-person account outshines more tame biographies . . . even fiction fades beside an absorbing adventure which we can only read with growing admiration."
Daily Mail
"A wonderful book to read and own; a treasury of human experience; an acknowledgement of human failure and the threads of hope that always run through it. A guide to our better understanding and greater sympathy -- it sounds a lot, too much, but here it is, between covers."
Fay Weldon
"The most vivid and insightful account I have read of Iran from feudalism to fundamentalism."
Felipe Fernadnez-Armesto
"In many places, social work (before the 1970s) became a caricature of its worst instincts. And yet Sattareh Farman-Farmaian (1992), a native Iranian, found the weapon she was looking for 'to fight Iran's human miseries' at the University of Southern California (USC) in the 'professional called social work.' Her fascinating autobiography, Daughter of Persia . . . , offers invaluable insight into the intricacies of adapting the principles of American social work into one's native land."
Katherine van Wormer
from Social Welfare: A World View
"It is not easy for the Western reader to accept an evidently sophisticated, able and highly successful career woman describing, without irony, this sort of set-up [where the male head of household married several wives]. But Sattareh is . . . clear about the brutal realities of a world only beginning in her childhood to emerge from medieval feudalism."
Hilary Spurling
The Weekly Telegraph: "A Persian Progress"
"Daughter of Persia is the remarkable autobiography of an extraordinary woman. The vivid contrast of various scenes will long haunt the reader. Colorful settings like Persian miniatures full of intriguing characters, beautiful gardens, splashing fountains, and elegant buildings precede the grim horror of inquisition by the Revolutionary Guard and the sound of executions on a nearby roof."
Jean-Louise N. Thacher
World Affairs Council Booknotes
"Daughter of Persia ought to take its place beside Life and Death in Shanghai and other great accounts of real life in turbulent times as a classic of the genre. [The author] has fashioned an elegant, passionate, riveting narrative of a life hitherto veiled to most western readers. It delights the senses, stirs the heart and opens the mind entirely. It removes 'the personal is political' from the realm of cliche and restores it to its level of simple insight: the interaction between a woman and her culture is worth attending. And this book has an intelligent and brave heroine to boot. It's wonderful."
Louise Bernikow
author of Alone in America
"A fine autobiography . . . as vivid and dramatic as it has a right to be."
Frances FitzGerald
"Exciting, absorbing . . . a fascinating psychological document . . ."
Kirkus Reviews
". . . [If] our aim is to see ourselves as others see us or to see others as they see themselves -- both laudable goals in the literature curriculum of a democratic society -- we should seek such books [as Daughter of Persia.] Each generation must discover for itself 'the land at the end of the earth.' whether that land be the United States or Iran or Peru or Japan. Such a discovery may be the most appropriate celebration of the quincentenary of Columbus' voyage."
English Journal
Editorial Comment: "The Land at the End of the Earth"
"Under the Shah, Sati always claimed that her school was outside politics, but she has now come to believe that no one with any kind of moral sense can be apolitical in a dictatorship. But the real strength of Daughter of Persia lies in its sympathetic descriptions of life as an Iranian woman in Iran. In these fascinating and well-written vignettes the Muslim veil is eased off; the face beneath is not unlike our own."
Frances Welch
Literacy Review: "Life Behind the Veil"
"Written with wit and sensitivity, on one level Daughter of Persia is the inspiring story of an idealistic and determined woman. But with more general application, it is a discouraging tale. How can we ever understand these unfathomable 'people of the wind'? And yet it is imperative that we try."
Lois Spratley
Daily Press, Inc. - Newport News, VA:
"Idealistic Woman is Iran's Enlightened Radical"
"'From the day I was born, I have always loved action more than words. But now only words are left,' she writes.
"Sattareh Farman Farmaian has made the best possible use of words. This is a moving, gripping and deeply informative autobiography."
More Magazine - New Zealand
"Sati's observations on conditions in her country, and particularly on the people who influenced events -- some of them her relatives -- are intelligent and perceptive. To see Iran through the eyes of an Iranian woman whose roots are deep in Old Persia, but whose education and working have given her modern insights, is a rare treat."
The Press - New Zealand
"This wide-ranging autobiography begins with a history of the Persian people from ancient times through the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Sattareh Farman Farmaian . . . grows up in her father's compound, one of many children by one of his many wives. Her father is an ardent believer in education and supports Sattareh's determination to become the first female in her family to receive an advanced degree. In time, she realizes her dream of opening the Teheran School of Social Work and teaches health and hygiene to hundreds of students over the years. Immersing herself totally in her work, she chooses not to speak up about the abuse of power by the corrupt Iranian government or against the Shah and his lust for material possessions. When the Shah's government collapses, she is accused of supporting his injustices. Despite her work of the last twenty years, she is kidnapped, interrogated, and forced to leave Iran. Daughter of Persia is a phenomenal read, offering a personal look at how both the Shah and the United States government choose to see only what is beneficial for them. Sattareh Farman Farmaian has written an important book, both for its history and its life-story."
Holly Smith,
author of 500 Great Books by Women
from Amazon.Com
"Widely regarded as a scholarly individual who values his privacy and time to read and think, Casper . . . also found time for pleasure reading, which ranks right near the top of his list of relaxation activities. . . . When he can find time, Casper is now reading three books:
Daughter of Persia by Sattareh Farman Farmaian. This is the account of a woman [whose mother] was married at 12 to a man in his fifties. The daughter, who eventually relocated to the United States, writes of her experiences as she studied in the United States then pursued social work in Iran until arrested as a "counterrevolutionary".
Casper said the book is a 'fascinating commentary on multicultural issues.'
Gerhard Casper,
president Stanford University
as quoted by Karen Bartholomew in Medical Center Report (n.d.)
" 'I was forced up against a wall for 24 hours waiting to be executed. At the last minute I was saved by a former prisoner who was, by then, second in command of the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime,' said Sattareh Farman Farmaian.
"Everything Farmaian owned was confiscated. She arrived in the United States in 1979 with only the dress that she was wearing.
"Friends helped Farmaian get settled. 'I took the [Los Angeles County] civil service exam and later worked for children's services in South Central Los Angeles. Now, I'm retired and promote my book.'
"Farmaian's book has been translated into Swedish, Dutch and German. 'My book was a best seller in Germany but it has been banned in Iran,' she said.
Ken Huthmaker,
staff writer, Palos Verdes Estates' Peninsula News
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