Author Cyrus Kadivar gives us a fascinating account of the last days of Pahlavi rule in Iran in his new book, “Farewell Shiraz: An Iranian Memoir of Revolution and Exile.” He left Iran at the age of 16, during the 1979 revolution, for a life of exile. He has felt caught “between a deep nostalgia for yesterday’s Iran and today’s unfulfilled dreams” ever since. For years, he was obsessed with the desire to understand what caused the 1979 revolution and how the founding of the Islamic Republic put an end to centuries of monarchic rule.
His interest in Iran’s history led him to write articles for both Iranian and Western publications. When he turned 37, the editor of “The Iranian,” a popular online magazine for Persians emigres, suggested that he should travel to Egypt to share his thoughts about Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s final resting place.
“I jumped at the idea,” Kadivar wrote. In October 1999, he flew to the country that had taken in the Pahlavi family 20 years previously. The shah had been welcomed by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and, according to the author, “Richard Nixon was reportedly impressed by Sadat’s noble gesture for his friend and he believed that the way the US government treated the shah was unforgivable.”
Kadivar added: “The shah’s exile and his death in Egypt had transfigured him in a way that prevented a critical but balanced assessment of his life and achievements.” During a visit to Cairo’s Rifa’i Mosque, where the shah lies in a temporary burial chamber, Kadivar kept asking himself: “How did we lose our country?”
Upon leaving the mosque, a poor man came up to Kadivar. He refused the alms given to him and, looking straight into his eyes, told him: ”Nobody should be buried away from the country of his birth. Insh’Allah, your shah will one day be reburied in Iran. On that day, you will find your country again.”
“Inside me, something had been unlocked. I realized that despite the years of soul-searching, I had not been able to properly mourn all that had been lost. Nostalgia for a forgotten world and my beloved city of Shiraz flooded my senses,” the author wrote.
The search for a vanished world begins in Shiraz, the city of fragrant roses, splendid sun and refreshing breezes streaming from the purple-tinted Zagros Mountains. It is a city where the author spent a happy childhood surrounded by his parents and loving grandparents. His grandfather knew Shiraz when there was little to do but under the new rule of Reza Shah, life was better.
When Reza Shah Pahlavi’s predecessor, Ahmad Shah, was deposed by parliamentary vote in October 1925, the elite, the clergy and the majority of Iranians voted in favor of the monarchy because they believed a republic might create instability and disunity. On April 1926, Reza Shah Pahlavi was crowned “Shahanshah” — the king of kings in English — in the Golestan Palace in the presence of his six-year-old son and future heir, Mohammed Reza.
Reza Shah, an admirer of Turkey’s Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, declared that all men not serving in the military, especially civil servants, must discard their old clothes and adopt Western dress. A new law also ordered every citizen to adopt a new surname devoid of lengthy titles. The author’s grandfather eventually chose the name “Kadivar,” meaning a country squire in English.
During World War II, Reza Shah’s support for the Axis powers caused his downfall. He was forced to abdicate and his son, Mohammed Reza, was sworn in as the new shah by Iran’s parliament. He eventually appointed Mohammed Mosaddegh as prime minister — a formidable character and brilliant orator who nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and was overthrown in a coup d’état aided by the CIA in 1953. From that day onwards, “Mohammed Reza Shah was determined to rule as an absolute monarch,” Kadivar wrote.
However, trouble was on the horizon as in the late 1970s, a friend of the Kadivar family shocked them when he said “there are going to be major changes in Iran if your king continues the way he’s going. Things will not stay like this forever. All appears calm on the surface now, but it could suddenly change overnight.”
A year later, the situation got worse. There were frequent demonstrations. The shah’s personality seemed eclipsed by Ayatollah Khomeini’s personality and, eventually, the shah left for Egyot in January 1979.
The book features an interview with Hossein Amirsadeghi, whose father was the shah’s chauffeur and the first to announce the news of the shah’s departure. “If the king and his supporters had shown more resolve, we would not have lost our country,” he told Kadivar. This belief was also shared by the author’s father who could not understand why the shah failed to take the decision to restore his authority.
After revolutionaries stormed the author’s father’s office following the revolution, he returned home and told his family that “Iran is no longer a country for a young man. We have to get out. It’s for the best.”
Looking back on those events, many believe that a combination of bad decisions made by the imperial regime caused the demise of the monarchy. Kadivar also reminds us that in May 1980, two months after his arrival in Egypt, the shah gave an interview to the Washington Post in which he acknowledged that trusting the Americans and the English had cost him his throne.
This riveting memoir is marked by its sincerity and elegance. It expresses the author’s feelings and efforts to overcome the pain of leaving his beloved country. His last words call for “a truly free nation where nobody lives in fear, where truth, not falsehood, is a virtue.”
Book Review: Dreams of a forgotten childhood in Shiraz
Book Review: Dreams of a forgotten childhood in Shiraz
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Planetary Climates’ by Andrew Ingersoll
This concise, sophisticated introduction to planetary climates explains the global physical and chemical processes that determine climate on any planet or major planetary satellite— from Mercury to Neptune and even large moons such as Saturn’s Titan.
Although the climates of other worlds are extremely diverse, the chemical and physical processes that shape their dynamics are the same.
As this book makes clear, the better we can understand how various planetary climates formed and evolved, the better we can understand Earth’s climate history and future.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Dragonflies of North America’
- “Dragonflies of North America” is the ultimate guide to these extraordinary insects
Author: ED LAM
Dragonflies are large and beautiful insects, diverse in color and pattern. This premier field guide provides all the information you need to identify every male and female dragonfly found in North America, whether in the field, in the hand, or under the microscope.
The extensive illustrations are the heart of the book. Close-up color portraits of each species, often several times life size, show the best possible specimens for close examination.
“Dragonflies of North America” is the ultimate guide to these extraordinary insects.
What We Are Reading Today: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Murakami’s prose, understated yet richly evocative, guides readers through a narrative that oscillates between the real and the surreal
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is an intricate, mesmerizing novel that weaves together the ordinary and the surreal, creating a tapestry of existential questions, hidden truths and unexpected journeys.
First published in 1994, the novel is often regarded as one of Murakami’s masterpieces, encapsulating his signature blend of magical realism, psychological depth, and cultural introspection.
At its heart is Toru Okada, an unassuming and somewhat disaffected man whose mundane life takes a sudden and dramatic turn when his wife, Kumiko, disappears. What begins as a straightforward search evolves into a labyrinthine journey, leading Toru to confront not only the mystery of Kumiko’s absence but also the darker forces of history, memory, and his own psyche.
Along the way, he encounters an eclectic cast of characters, each with their own enigmatic role to play in the unfolding story.
Murakami’s prose, understated yet richly evocative, guides readers through a narrative that oscillates between the real and the surreal. The novel’s structure mirrors this duality, as Toru navigates his increasingly strange reality while descending into dreamlike underworlds, mysterious wells, and symbolic landscapes.
These moments are imbued with Murakami’s distinctive sense of unease, where the boundaries of the tangible and intangible blur, leaving the reader questioning the nature of reality itself.
One of the novel’s great strengths is its ability to juxtapose the deeply personal with the historically and culturally significant.
While Toru’s story is intimate and introspective, it is interwoven with threads of Japanese history, particularly the atrocities of the Second World War. These historical narratives, told through the recollections of various characters, deepen the novel’s scope, turning it into a meditation on the lingering wounds of the past and their impact on the present.
“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” also delves into themes of connection and alienation, power and vulnerability, and the search for meaning in a world that often feels inexplicable. Toru’s journey is not just a physical quest but a spiritual and emotional odyssey, forcing him to confront the unseen forces that shape his life and the lives of those around him.
Murakami’s use of symbolism and recurring motifs — cats, wells, and the titular wind-up bird — adds layers of mystery and interpretive richness to the novel. These elements, coupled with the novel’s nonlinear structure and surreal interludes, create a reading experience that is both immersive and disorienting, drawing readers into a world that is as unsettling as it is beautiful.
For longtime fans of Murakami, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is quintessential, showcasing the author’s ability to blend the banal with the extraordinary. For new readers, it offers an expansive introduction to his universe, though its complexity may require patience and reflection.
Ultimately, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is a profound exploration of the human condition — its mysteries, its contradictions, and its quiet beauty. It is a novel that refuses to offer easy answers, instead inviting readers to embrace its ambiguities and immerse themselves in its layered, dreamlike world. Murakami has crafted a story that is as haunting as it is enlightening, leaving an indelible mark on those who dare to journey into its depths.
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Authors: John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin
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Offering much more information than identification guides, the book provides detailed accounts and more than 650 color photographs of the islands’ habitats, marine life, reptiles, birds, mammals, and plants, making the book a virtual nature tour of Galápagos.
Galápagos experts John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin have thoroughly revised the original text, bringing all the taxonomy up to date and adding a wealth of new information.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘A Well-Ordered Thing’ by Michael D. Gordon
Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834–1907) is a name we recognize, but perhaps only as the creator of the periodic table of elements.
Generally, little else has been known about him. “A Well-Ordered Thing” is an authoritative biography of Mendeleev that draws a multifaceted portrait of his life for the first time.
As Michael Gordin reveals, Mendeleev was not only a luminary in the history of science, he was also an astonishingly wide-ranging political and cultural figure.
