We Heard the Heavens Then: A Memoir of Iran

Today it hard to think of Iran as a country allied with the U.S., and open to the possibilities of free commerce and Western culture. But that’s the world Minu-Sepehr grew up in. As the son of a general in the Iranian Air Force, his was a life of privilege while Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was in power. In this enlightening memoir, Minu-Sepehr show how as unrest among the population grew and revolution ushered in the era of Ayotollah Khomeini and “Faith, jihad, martyrdom,” his world is forever altered. While Minu-Sepehr is boy enough to be upset that Little House on the Prairie was the “one ancien regime program the revolution hadn’t axed,” even then he saw the disconnect between America and Persian culture that remains to this day. But even as this is Minu-Sepehr’s story, the star is his father, Baba, brought to life by the author as a man caught in the middle of his past and tumultuous present, while simultaneously trying to ensure his family’s future. Written with the honesty and humor representative of childhood mixed with the longing and acceptance of an adult separated from his homeland, this memoir offers an insider’s perspective on a country and a people that often remains a mystery to Western people. (Apr.)