Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic RevolutionAn intimate and honest chronicle of the everyday life of Iranian women over the past century “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.” —Washington Post The fifteenth of thirty-six children, Sattareh Farman Farmaian was born in Iran in 1921 to a wealthy and powerful shazdeh, or prince, and spent a happy childhood in her father’s Tehran harem. Inspired and empowered by his ardent belief in education, she defied tradition by traveling alone at the age of twenty-three to the United States to study at the University of Southern California. Ten years later, she returned to Tehran and founded the first school of social work in Iran. Intertwined with Sattareh’s personal story is her unique perspective on the Iranian political and social upheaval that have rocked Iran throughout the twentieth century, from the 1953 American-backed coup that toppled democratic premier Mossadegh to the brutal regime of the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini’s fanatic and anti-Western Islamic Republic. In 1979, after two decades of tirelessly serving Iran’s neediest, Sattareh was arrested as a counterrevolutionary and branded an imperialist by Ayatollah Khomeini’s radical students. Daughter of Persia is the remarkable story of a woman and a nation in the grip of profound change. |
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Abadan Abbas Agha Aghajun American Aminabad andarun army arrest Arun Ashari asked Ayatollah Khomeini Batul bazaar began British brothers called chador compound Dadash daughter eyes Ezzatdoleh face Farough father felt foreign friends garden girls going gone Hadji heard Hossein Hossein Ala Iran Iran's Iranians Islamic Jaby Khanom knew learned lived looked loved Majlis married Mashti Mehdi Bazargan military minister Mitra Mohammed Mossadegh Mohammed Reza Shah Moslem Mossadegh mother mullahs National Front never Nosratdoleh once Pahlavi Persian police political premier Qajar realized Reswanieh revolutionaries SATTAREH FARMAN FARMAIAN Satti SAVAK School of Social seemed servants Shah's Shazdeh Shemiran Shiraz sisters social workers someone stepmother street sure Tajrish talk Tehran tell things thought told took train trying village waited wanted wife woman women young Zamani