Maman’s Homesick Pie – Donia Bijan
For Donia Bijan’s family, food has been the language they use to tell their stories and to communicate their love. In 1978, when the Islamic revolution in Iran threatened their safety, they fled to California’s Bay Area, where the familiar flavors of Bijan’s mother’s cooking formed a bridge to the life they left behind. Now, through the prism of food, award-winning chef Donia Bijan unwinds her own story, finding that at the heart of it all is her mother, whose love and support enabled Bijan to realize her dreams.
From the Persian world of her youth to the American life she embraced as a teenager to her years at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris (studying under the infamous Madame Brassart) to apprenticeships in France’s three-star kitchens and finally back to San Francisco, where she opened her own celebrated bistro, Bijan evokes a vibrant kaleidoscope of cultures and cuisines. And she shares thirty inspired recipes from her childhood (Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant and Orange Cardamom Cookies), her French training (Ratatouille with Black Olives and Fried Bread and Purple Plum Skillet Tart), and her cooking career (Roast Duck Legs with Dates and Warm Lentil Salad and Rose Petal Ice Cream).
An exhilarating, heartfelt memoir, Maman’s Homesick Pie is also a reminder of the women who encourage us to shine.
Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage,
and the Formation of the Qazaqs
Joo-Yup Lee
In Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the Formation of the Qazaqs,Joo-Yup Lee examines the formation of new group identities. It focuses on the Qazaqs, in post-Mongol Central Eurasia within the context of qazaqlïq, or the qazaq way of life, a custom of political vagabondage widespread among the Turko-Mongolian peoples of Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe during the post-Mongol period.
Utilizing a broad range of original sources, the book suggests that the Qazaqs, as well as the Shibanid Uzbeks and Ukrainian Cossacks, came into existence as a result of the qazaq, or “ambitious brigand,” activities of their founders. This provided a new paradigm for understanding state formation and identity in post-Mongol Central Eurasia.
My Life and the Overthrow of
the Persian Peacock Throne
Siamak A, Adibi
New Publishing Partners (2016)
By the cover I believed I was about to read another statistical book on the events leading up to the overthrowing of the Peacock Throne. I was pleasantly surprised! This small book was filled with fascinating facts of the author’s experience of events. More importantly his discussion of his own life made the book’s facts ones to remember. The book reflects the dilemma in leaving the country of your birth, still hoping the best for its future, and thinking of your return, until you fall in love with your new home.
After reading this I believed that the author found peace with his decisions and a better understanding of just why there is animosity between Iran and the United States. A truly worthwhile read!
A life in Many Movements:
One transcendent woman’s “symphony”
of 20th century Persian life
Simin Redjali
The life story of Dr. Simin Redjali (Khadiri) begins in Iran (Persia) during the time of Iran’s westernization. Her story follows the social,historical, political turmoil of the past seventy years in Iran, Europe and the United States.
Like a symphony, this book has four movements. The author traces her transition from being part of Iran’s elite to her struggles in the US encompassing Iran’s recent social historical movement, the women’s rights, mental health, and personal issues such as surviving cancer.
The book illustrates the personal approach the author has adopted throughout her life in coping with and overcoming adversities through the power of education. Her journey is a testament to a woman’s ability to balance all facets of her life: family, career, emotional turmoil, and quest to help others.
Education has been the cornerstone of Dr. Redjali’s life. She received her Ph.D. in Educational and Clinical Psychology from the University of Heidelberg in 1961. After a post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of London she became the first women professor at the National University of Iran, an NSF Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar in the United States in 1966/67.
Dr. Redjali worked tirelessly to promote the social status of women in Iran and as the Secretary General of the Women’s Organization of Iran she helped establish more than 150 Family Welfare Centers throughout the country. In 1973 Dr. Redjali established Shemiran College which provided three much needed new areas of study: early childhood education, family counseling, and welfare administration.
After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Dr. Redjali and her family were granted permanent residency and citizenship to the United States because of her education. Then she has devoted her time to advancing services in the fields of mental health and intellectual disabilities in the State of Virginia as Fellow Center Director, Research Director, Clinical Faculty of MCV and Consultant and is the author of several books and articles written in three languages.