{"id":60344,"date":"2016-12-22T13:50:51","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T18:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persian-heritage.com\/wordpress\/?p=60344"},"modified":"2020-04-15T10:12:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T15:12:18","slug":"theres-no-one-in-the-mirror-the-fall-of-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2016\/12\/22\/theres-no-one-in-the-mirror-the-fall-of-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d, The Fall of Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d<\/strong>
\nNew English Translation of Renowned<\/strong>
\nIranian Author, Guita Garakani\u2019s Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d is a collection of short stories by the renowned Iranian author, Guita Garakani, which has recently been translated into English by author and translator, Hedyeh Hastibakhsh. These stories, although written in deceptively simple language, have a depth and poignancy which touch the reader\u2019s soul, evoking thoughts, feelings, and memories which make them feel at one with each protagonist. From the exploration of deep emotions, loneliness, and despair, to a hint of light comedy, and even a touch of science fiction and the , this collection has something for fans of every genre.
\nThe author, Guita Garakani, has a B.A. in Dramatic Literature and Play Writing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of Tehran University. Her written works are mostly research, collaboration with the Research Center of the Children of the World, collaboration with the Encyclopedia of Children\u2019s Books Association, and sometimes with the press. She is mostly known, in Iran, as a translator of contemporary works of fiction, including works by Roald Dahl, Anthony Horowicz, and Mark Haddon.
\nThe translator, Hedyeh Hastibakhsh is an educator and author. She has an honors B.A. in psychology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as a B.Ed. from the University of Windsor in Winsor, Ontario, Canada. She is TESL certified and is a member of both the Ontario and British Columbia College of Teachers in Canada. She has also been writing fiction and poetry from a very young age, and does translation work. She has had her poetry published in World Order magazine, and was a recipient of the Dr. Harry Paikin Award and the Robert Hayden Poetry Fellowship. She writes for children and adults, and has written several educational books, works of fiction, and volumes of poetry. Her author profile page, as well as a list of her books, including \u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d, can be viewed at www.amazon.com\/author\/hedyeh.<\/p>\n

The Fall of Heaven:<\/strong>
\nThe Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran<\/strong>
\nAndrew Scott Cooper<\/strong>
\nHenry Holt and Co.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It almost seems as if Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, aka the Shah of Iran, wasn\u2019t ruling a great nation so much as auditioning for a blockbuster miniseries. He had it all: a beautiful queen, mistresses galore, absolute power, corrupt kin, and a hedonistic daughter turned Islamic fanatic.
\nThe arch villain in this drama, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, made Lex Luthor look like a milquetoast.
\nIn reality, the Shah, who fled Iran in 1979 and died the following year, was a serious ruler whose successes and failures have had a profound effect on the world right up to the present. He was instrumental in turning oil into a geopolitical weapon and bringing the bugaboo of nuclear power to Iran. Had he staved off Khomeini, the Middle East might be far less tumultuous today.
\nIn The Fall of Heaven (Henry Holt, 499 pp.,\u00bd out of four stars), Andrew Scott Cooper brings the Shah, along with his colorful retinue and turbulent times, back to life. It is revisionist history in parts \u2014 and mostly sympathetic to the king and his queen Farah. She was among the many people the author interviewed for this thoroughly researched and richly detailed account.
\nThe Shah, according to Cooper, was nothing like the blood-soaked tyrant portrayed by the Western media in the 1970s. Rather he was a predominantly beneficent autocrat whose White Revolution raised his people\u2019s incomes and expanded literacy and women\u2019s rights.
\nThere clearly were abuses, including the torture and death of political opponents, but they were substantially less than were claimed by regime opponents and reported by many journalists. The author cites investigations by the Red Cross and the Islamic Republic of Iran itself to support his thesis. He also points out that the ruthless Khomeini made the Shah look like a piker when it came to human rights violations.
\nIn fact, the Shah was something of an old softy according to many observers: reluctant to unleash his security forces on violent protesters not just before his fall, but also during previous uprisings in 1953 and 1963. He repeatedly offered concessions to Khomeini and his rampaging mobs.
\nIn late 1978, King Hussein of Jordan flew to Iran to buck up his fellow royal, even volunteering to lead the fight against Khomeini\u2019s followers. The Shah politely declined the offer. He would not slaughter his people to save his throne.
\nThe deposed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, the Empress Farah Pahlavi, visit the Panamanian resort Contadora Island in December 1979.
\nEarlier, in August, an even more astounding offer came from none other than Saddam Hussein, a true tyrant if there ever was one. He told the Shah to just give him the word and he would kill Khomeini, then in exile in Iraq. The Shah said no thanks.
\nTwo years hence, Saddam\u2019s Iraq and Khomeini\u2019s Iran would fight a brutal eight-year war that killed an estimated 1 million people on both sides.
\nAmerica was largely clueless about Iran. The CIA had not listened to the tapes of Khomeini\u2019s virulent sermons that were on sale in Tehran. \u201cThe Americans were sure that Khomeini was a moderating influence over the leftists and radicals in his entourage,\u201d Cooper writes.
\nCompounding this intelligence failure was President Jimmy Carter\u2019s preoccupation with brokering peace between Israel and Egypt and the Shah\u2019s reluctance to use the overwhelming power of his security forces to stay in power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d New English Translation of Renowned Iranian Author, Guita Garakani\u2019s Book \u201cThere\u2019s No One in the Mirror\u201d is a collection of short stories by the renowned Iranian author, Guita Garakani, which has recently been translated into English by author and translator, Hedyeh Hastibakhsh. These stories, although written in deceptively simple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookrev"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}