Iran Awakening
A Memoir of Revolution and Hope
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4.5 • 23 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • The first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize provides an eyewitness account of her stand at the crossroads of history in this moving and unforgettable memoir.
“Riveting . . . [Iran Awakening] sometimes reads like a police thriller, its drama heightened by [Shirin] Ebadi’s determination to keep up the quotidian aspects of her family life.”—The Washington Post Book World (Best Books of the Year)
“A testament to how a single, inspired voice can rise above the cacophony . . . the book should be required reading.”—The Nation
In Iran Awakening, Dr. Shirin Ebadi recounts her public career and reveals her private self: her faith, her experiences, and her desire to lead a traditional life even while serving as a rebellious voice in a land where such voices are muted or brutally silenced.
Ebadi describes her girlhood in Tehran, her education, and her early professional success as Iran’s most accomplished female jurist—until hardline clerics demoted her after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She eventually fought her way back as a human rights lawyer, defending women and children in politically charged cases that most lawyers were afraid to represent.
In reading Ebadi’s story, we come to see a devoted daughter, wife, and mother. Ebadi is an everywoman, albeit one who has braved imprisonment, harassment, and assassination attempts, all for the dream of a better Iran for her daughters and for generations to come. For her bravery and selflessness, she has been embraced as a national hero and as a key player in helping to forge Iran’s destiny, whatever it may be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Human rights activist and winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Ebadi courageously recounts her life in Iran in this memoir, publishable here only after she brought the U.S. government to court to challenge the Treasury Department's sanctions policy. Collaborating with Moaveni (Lipstick Jihad), Ebadi guides readers through the turbulent recent history of her country. A young judge and pro-revolution activist under the repressive government of the shah, Ebadi says of the Iranian revolution, "We felt as if we had reclaimed a dignity that, until recently, many of us had not even realized we had lost." Her hopes were quickly dashed as it became clear that the Islamic Republic was more concerned with her lack of a headscarf than with her legal reasoning abilities, and she uses the bulk of her book to explain her decision to remain in Iran and brave the challenges faced by independent-minded citizens of a theocracy. Ebadi provides a revealing glimpse into a deeply insular society. She is at her best when discussing the hapless reform movement led by former president Khatami: for instance, though over a dozen moderate women were elected to the national assembly in 2000, they lacked the power to have the women's conference room furnished with chairs.
