The Golden Cage
Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny
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- $26.99
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- $26.99
Publisher Description
"If you do not have the power to overthrow the rule of oppression, inform others of the oppression."—Persian proverb
For over fifty years the Shah Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran until Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 Islamic Revolution seized power and began its own reign of tyranny. The questions about the revolution shape The Golden Cage while the answers shed light on Islamic Iran's current events and tell us why it strives for nuclear energy, chants "Death to Israel," and claims to be the most powerful force in the Middle East and Muslim world.
History perhaps is best described through life stories we each can hold dearly. The Golden Cage is one such story about three brothers the author knew through their sister, Pari, a childhood friend. Each brother subscribes to a different political ideology that tears Iran and their lives apart. As Pari observes, her brothers live deluded lives in golden cages of ideology. These words mark the beginning of this story, illuminating the multifaceted, oppressive Iran of today and years past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nobel Laureate Ebadi's latest (after Iran Awakening) is a moving memoir about the family of her closest friend, Pari, with whom she grew up. "Our mothers had been best friends since they were five or six years old," she writes. "It was a childhood friendship, born from a handful of almond cookies, but it had managed to endure..." Ebadi is Iranian (her Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for her work with women and children there) and the bulk of the story takes place in Tehran. Readers with some knowledge of 20th-century Iranian history will best understand the many details of her tale, which focuses on Pari's three brothers: the loyalist Abbas, middle child Javad (who becomes an extremist), and youngest son, Ali, a military officer. Their stories are each devastating and tragic, but Ebadi's true sympathies lie with women, and it's in telling their tales that Ebadi's writing is best. What's more, the stories of Pari, her mother, and of Ebadi herself give the memoir a humanist scope, making it accessible for those who may lack compassion for the selfish and violent choices made by the men.
