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Ebadi, Shirin. Iran Awakening. One Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country. New York: Random House, 2007. 256pp. $14.95
Nasr, Vali. The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. 240pp. $14.95
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has posed a serious dilemma for regional and global peace and security. Today, Iran is more perplexing and ominous than ever, thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadine jad' s threatening rants and Iran's supposed nuclear ambitions.
Two books about Iran and Shiism are must reads to understand better the current dilemma in the Middle East and its ramifications for global security. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Eb adi' s autobiography Iran Awakening and Vali Nasr' s The Shia Revival provide unique insights and analyses of the powerhungry clerics ruling Iran and of the Sunni-versus-Shia paradigm.
Shirin Ebadi's personal story about her upbringing in Iran, first under Shah Pahlavi and then under the Islamic Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power, is captivating. Each chapter contains shocking developments, but nothing grabs the reader more than the prologue, in which she...