Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran

The co-existence of government-proscribed anti-Americanism and societal ambivalence towards the U.S. often produces a schizophrenic attitude among Iranians, and Americans in Iran are forever surprised to find people eager to talk to them, even in the midst of a seething mass of flag burners. Common observation concludes that there are two faces of Iran; deeper familiarity shows a far more multi-faceted country. New York Times reporter Sciolino's intimacy with Iran is precisely as old as its revolution. In February 1979, she was a member of a planeload of journalists accompanying the Ayatollah Khomeini as the recorders of history (and, more pragmatically, as a human shield), when the Supreme Leader returned from exile to a country in the throes of revolution. As the nightmare of the 444-day hostage crisis horrified Americans, Sciolino observed mundane daily life outside the besieged embassy's gates. She remembers a vendor on the corner who shouted ""Death to Carter. Eat eggs."" Over the course of two decades, Sciolino interviewed the leading political, religious and intellectual figures of Iran. More enticingly, she constructs her portrait of Iran around the personal histories of the many ordinary Iranians who fed her curiosity, fascination and affinity for their culture. Though she makes no pretense towards political predictions, Sciolino clearly sees the writing on the wall. Iran is a country ""too complex to remain confined in a revolutionary straitjacket forever."" Author tour. (Oct.)