Red Olive

Published in a series of books intended to record the oral histories of Iranian women and their experiences in the Iran-Iraq War, not only does "Red Olive" chronicle the war years and the aftermath of that war, but it is also an account of the involvement of a young woman, a dissident political activist, in the efforts and events that resulted in the revolutionary upheavals that overthrew the government of the Shah.


"Red Olive" is a rather unusual autobiography; it is the memoir of Nahid Yusefian, a nuclear scientist and one of seven daughters of an ordinary Iranian railroad worker. What is remarkable about her is that she comes from a very unremarkable, humble background. Like everyone else in the working class in Iran, the main concern of Nahid’s parents during her formative years is economic survival, and their persistence eventually pays off, to the point that all seven daughters receive higher educations. Nahid’s formative years are in some ways typical of the times in Iran, and furthermore, her years in college, her gradual interest in anti-government political issues, her interest in almost parrot-like imitation of leftist activists, and her reading and becoming influenced by radical propaganda literature are also all typical of a significant segment of her generation. In the wake of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, all of Nahid’s sisters and her parents immigrate to the United States; but Nahid herself is determined to remain in Iran with her husband, a decision that costs her dearly, with the loss of her husband, the maiming of her son, and the ill-effects on the health of her daughter and herself. In the course of her eventful life, however, she develops a sense of her “self,” a sense of her identity as a woman, an Iranian, a scientist, and above all, a devoted mother. Her adulthood for the most part coincides with the tumultuous years of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War and she proves, similar to millions of others, to be a survivor. What characterizes her memoir is her honesty in telling her story, even when she has violated the law or ethical standards.