Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across IranAfshin Molavi, a young journalist and writer born in Iran and educated in the West, traveled his homeland for more than a year, encountering every facet of Iranian society--students of the right and left, bazaar merchants, Islamic clerics, pro-democracy journalists, Islamic hard-liners, reformist politicians, grumbling taxi drivers, urban slum dwellers, partying teenagers, village farmers, handicapped war veterans, and kids hooked on anything western. All opened their hearts to him, speaking candidly about a wide range of issues: unemployment, politics, freedom, religion, poetry, history, the Internet, the legacy of the Islamic revolution, the current pro-democracy movement, Iran's relations with the West, and much more. Throughout his meetings and travels, Molavi wove the tale of nearly 3,000 years of Iranian history through pilgrimages to ancient and contemporary sites, shrines, and monuments, vividly explaining the relevance of Iran's past to today's Iranian predicament. The pilgrimages ranges from the tomb of Cyrus the Great on the windswept plains of Pasargad to the splendid rose gardens at the Shiraz shrine for the fourteenth-century poet Hafez, the golden domes of Ayatollah Khomeini's vast mausoleum in Tehran, a haunting war veterans' shrine for survivors of the devastating Iran-Iraq war near the border of Iraq, and the European embassy "visa pilgrimages" of college graduates frustrated by bleak job prospects and the social and political restrictions at home. Cutting through the official rhetoric of the Islamic Republic, Molavi adds much-needed context to its political power struggle and demonstrates that the realities of today's Iran are far more complex than if often understood in the West. Through interviews with courageous journalists, students, and pro-democracy advocates who battle an entrenched conservative ruling class unwilling to accommodate popular opinion and numerous conversations with average Iranians frustrated by their deteriorating economy and the conservative stranglehold on power, Molavi chronicles a land and a people hungry for change. Few books have penetrated the soul of Iran--both past and present--as deeply as this exceptional report on one of the world's most important nations. Persian Pilgrimages is a journey to remember. "A rare and important work that examines Iranian society from a grassroots, human level while offering a taste of the grand sweep of Iranian history. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary Iran." --R. K. Ramazani, professor emeritus of politics, University of Virginia. |
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LibraryThing Review
Avis d'utilisateur - VeritysVeranda - LibraryThingGiven my limited knowledge of Iran, I fully enjoyed the historical, literary, cultural and literal tour of Iran, often hoping that I could find English translations of the literary references, usually to no avail. Consulter l'avis complet
PERSIAN PILGRIMAGES: Journeys Across Iran
Avis d'utilisateur - KirkusWhither Iran, asks Washington-based Iranian journalist Molavi in this tour of the country's past and present. Molavi, who has lived in the US since his youth, returned to Iran for a year of journeying ... Consulter l'avis complet
Table des matières
PROLOGUE | xvii |
Part I | 3 |
Notes on a Pilgrimage Cyrus the Great | 11 |
Currencies and Passports aboard Iran Air Flight 327 to Shiraz | 14 |
What Is the Name of This Street? | 18 |
Persepolis Celebrations and Revolutions | 21 |
The Zoroastrian Stamp | 27 |
Colonial Markings | 30 |
The Case of Akbar Ganji Journalist Prodemocracy Advocate Prisoner | 154 |
Part V | 159 |
The Shiatization of Iran | 167 |
Sensual Isfahan | 170 |
The Bazaar and the Mosque | 174 |
Pilgrimage Mullah Mohammad Bagher Majlesi and the Rise of the Shia Cleric | 177 |
Mr Mohseni the Young Cleric | 184 |
Part VI | 191 |
Ancient History and Green Cards | 33 |
Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Cyrus the Great | 36 |
Part II | 43 |
Mr Ghassemis Funeral | 44 |
Islam and the Iranian Accommodation | 52 |
The SunniShia Split | 62 |
Mourning and Miracles | 66 |
Pilgrimage Ferdowsi the Poet | 69 |
Imam Alt or Rostam? | 75 |
Global Arrogance and Green Cards at the Nader Shah Museum | 79 |
Pilgrimage Imam Reza Tomb | 82 |
Part III | 87 |
A Blasphemous Play | 92 |
Dance Party | 94 |
Campus Politics | 96 |
HardLiners and Green Cards | 101 |
Elites and Masses | 104 |
The Road to Neishapour | 106 |
Notes on a Pilgrimage Omar Khayyam the Poet | 110 |
The Spice Men of the Bazaar | 112 |
The Pilgrimage Omar Khayyam Tomb | 115 |
Mohsen the Student and Hassan the War Veteran | 119 |
Martyrs Cemetery | 122 |
Part IV | 124 |
Red Lines | 129 |
Narges and the Censoring of Milan Kundera | 132 |
Why a FourteenthCentury Poet Speaks So Eloquently to Contemporary Iranians | 134 |
Pilgrimage The Tomb of Hafez the Poet | 145 |
Mrs Teimouris Wedding | 150 |
A Murder in Kashan | 194 |
Tabriz Student Protests 1999 | 200 |
The Case of Ahmad Batebi | 206 |
Irans Fight for a Constitution 190611 | 209 |
An American Constitutionalist in Tabriz | 215 |
The Strangling of Persia A Constitutional Ending | 219 |
The Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran | 222 |
Part VII | 226 |
The International Congress on the Elucidation of the Islamic Revolution and the Thoughts of Imam Khomeini | 230 |
A Jug of Love | 237 |
Mr Hashemi and the ProKhomeini Oppressed | 240 |
Reza Shah Forgotten Shrine Remembered King | 244 |
The Khomeini Rise | 248 |
Pilgrimage The Shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini | 254 |
Part VIII | 260 |
Hosseins War | 264 |
Journey to Ahvaz | 272 |
War Miracles | 274 |
Pilgrimage War Martyrs Shrine | 278 |
Haji Agha Abu Torabi and the Prisoners of War | 280 |
Part IX | 283 |
Children of the Revolution | 285 |
Visas and Billboards | 293 |
In Damascus I Can Breathe | 298 |
The Canadian Embassy Visa Pilgrimage | 302 |
Farewell Iran | 307 |
309 | |
Expressions et termes fréquents
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