A Thread about Memoirs

[College Liberal]

In light of Bhutto's death, i thought i would post a thread about the middle east. This thread is limited to memoirs and i would like some suggestions and or general conversations about memoirs that each of you have read or plan on reading about the middle east. I will start

I have read the following:
Leap of faith by Queen Noor
An Enduring Love by Empress Farah Pahlavi

The one thing that stands out to me about Queen Noor's book was the way it showed the west and its treatment of her and her husband. It is always fascinating to read a first hand account, even one that was scrubbed of embarrassing stuff, to put history in its correct order.

Empress Pahlavi's memoirs were a little different. I did not like the Shaw. And although i am only 20, i believe that if i don't know history, i will be doomed to repeat it. The Empress' book did however almost make me weep. I remember reading about her and her husband being forced to leave, hoping that his departure would calm the tense situation in Iran. It did, for a short while. I was about to weep when the Empress describes packing boots, as if she were never going to own another pair of shoes again. The desperation that came through the pages was truly a work of powerful storytelling.......

[College Liberal]

1. Come On Folks

spice this thread up some


Please :)

[billyskank]

18. Well

You're talking about two books which, I'm guessing, few of us will have read. There is nothing wrong with that in principle, except that you are discussing them in a manner as if you are assuming we all know what you are talking about. We do not, which is why people will have looked at your post and could think of nothing to add.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear College Liberal!

Your thread topic might be just a tad bit more intellectual than most Loungers will admit being interested in...

I'm sorry, sweetie...

And it's a weekend, with the New Year looming over us...

I dunno...

:hug:

Even I don't feel like working this hard...I'm sorry...

BTW, your ideas are excellent!

[College Liberal]

3. Thanks

even my mom, peers, and professors sometimes tells me, "Look, if you want to rant about the middle east or poverty then can you at least wait until after dinner, or after class, or just 'later'" lol

I do have a thing for trying to engage people. But, i guess i will have to dumb it down :(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Oh, no...no dumbing down...

I think you might do better in say, General Discussion, or General Discussion-Politics...

You have a lot of enthusiasm, and intelligence...

I don't want to dampen your abilities...

We just need to find the proper forum for you...

After all, you are the future! :patriot:

[jpgray]

5. Pretentious white guy author, but Seven Pillars of Wisdom is fun

[College Liberal]

6. Just fun?

lol, that's all? I might have to go and check that out.

Thanks :hi:

[jpgray]

7. To be more specific it is a self-important memoir that gives an interesting perspective on Arabs

And specifically on the flowering of Arab nationalism, guerilla warfare in the region, etc.

[College Liberal]

8. Thanks

What was the title?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is the title...

It's by TE Lawrence ...

You know, the Lawrence of Arabia guy...

[College Liberal]

10. Yeah

that sounds like an interesting read.....


Thanks....

[RFKHumphreyObama]

11. Interesting topic

I highly recommend
In Search of Identity: An Autobiography by Anwar el-Sadat. I enjoyed reading about his childhood and revolutionary experiences and his relationship with Nasser and the like

Incidentally the Shah wrote two books after he was deposed. Embarassingly, I can't remember which one I have because it has been so long since I've read it but I do know that I found it very interesting to read his version and interpretation of the events leading up to his downfall

Even though you only asked for memoirs, if you want to read more about the downfall of the Shah and the Iranian Revolution, I'd also recommend
The Shah's Last Ride: Death of an Ally by William Shawcross
Iran Under the Ayatollahs by Dilip Hiro -more or less covers the immediate aftermath and the first few years after Khomeini's rise to power

There is also a book by the brother of Amir Abbas Hoveyda -who served as Prime Minister of Iran and who was later executed by the new Khomeini regime -that makes for interesting reading as well but I can't for the life of me remember the name of it

Why don't you also read Benazir Bhutto's book "Daughter of the East"? I read it years ago and it made for very compelling reading

[College Liberal]

12. Thanks

Um, i hate to admit it, but i never heard of Bhutto until last year. And i was under the impression that her book was not released yet. I read at Yahoo News that HapperCollins :eyes: was trying to rush her book to shelves by early February....

I love history and will go and check out the books that you mentioned. Thanks again....

[RFKHumphreyObama]

14. You're welcome

Just to clarify -the new book written by Bhutto coming out in February is the latest one she has written and is not a memoir -it is, I believe, about Islam and the West or something to that effect

"Daughter of the East" was a memoir she wrote during the 1980s while she was still a Pakistani opposition leader trying to overthrow the Zia regime. She later released an updated version of it in 1989 -shortly after she became Prime Minister for the first time -entitled "Daughter of Destiny". You can find the details of that and the other books she has written if you access her Wikipedia article

[College Liberal]

13. Kick

This deserves to be discussed with some amount of serious.....

~sigh~

[Book Lover]

16. Seriousness in the Lounge happens rarely

Post this in the Books group - you'll get your intelligent conversation there!

[Inchworm]

15. If by memoirs you mean

document the silly things you have done.. Not so sure :)

:hi:

[femmocrat]

17. kick

Sorry, I am woefully ignorant when it comes to scholarly tomes on the Mideast.... but I thought maybe some serious folks not nursing hangovers might give this excellent topic their consideration! I would like to read Bhutto's memoir. I was unaware of it until reading this thread. Thanks!

:hi:

[RainDog]

19. Persian Mirrors

by a reporter for the NYT, Elaine Sciolino, about her experiences in Iran. She discusses their culture, holidays -- it's an interesting read. She's still working as a reporter, btw. I read it a few years ago and then asked someone from Iran who was living here about the things she mentions. She's not totally whacked and off. The section about the importance of poetry and poets in Iranian society in the past and now is very nice.

A book that's not a memoir but that is an important piece of lit. for Iran, for instance, is by Attar and is called The Conference of Birds. It's a classic text that is supposed to illustrate the... shortsightedness of humans. Even tho you limit this to memoirs... oops.

I know of but did not read the memoirs of Queen Noor or Empress Pahlavi. As far as the Shah, etc. I find it fairly difficult to have much sympathy for her experience considering what SAVAK did to Iranians. A few years ago I did read a book called All The Shah's Men which talks about the U.S./Brit overthrow of the democratically elected president of Iran, Mossedegh. This was an international criminal act that should have landed the U.S. govt in a world war crimes criminal court. It was also written by a reporter for the NYT - stephen kinzer.

This act is one of the main reasons for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism as a force to counter CIA-selected govt. Anyway, she's worse, imo, than Imelda Marcos, as far as a leech on the lives of the citizens of her country. Whether her memoirs are a work of powerful storytelling or not is secondary, to me, to the truth of why she had to leave.

The best memoir of Iran that I've read in the last few years is Persepolis, by Marjan Satrapi. She wrote/drew two graphic novels that talk about her experience as a kid from a liberal family in Iran and what happened to them after the Ayatollah came to power. Her books have been made into a movie that's been released, as far as I know, but has not made it to a theater near me.

[College Liberal]

20. Thanks for the info

:hi:

[ashling]

21. Memoirs, like the corners of my mind

Memoirs,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memoirs
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?
Memries, may be beautiful and yet
Whats too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So its the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were