Hooman Majd, acclaimed journalist and New York-residing grandson of an Ayatollah, has a unique perspective on his Iranian homeland. In this vivid, warm and humorous insiderÂ’s account, he opens our eyes to an Iran that few people see, meeting opium-smoking clerics, women cab drivers and sartorially challenged presidential officials, among others. Revealing a country where both t-shirt wearing teenagers and religious martyrs express pride in their Persian origins, that is deeply religious yet highly cosmopolitan, authoritarian yet reformist, this is the one book you should read to understand Iran and Iranians today.

Captivating … wise and witty … essential reading (GQ )

Illuminating, critical and affectionate (Economist, Books of the Year )

Westerners who tend to seek out only Iranians who talk and think like themselves should use this as a guide (Financial Times )

Mr President, if you are serious about negotiating with Iran, you need … the best book on contemporary Iranian culture and all of its complexities and contradictions. Don’t go to Tehran without it (Washington Monthly, ‘What Obama Should Read’ )

The best book yet written on the contradictions of contemporary Iran … it captures like no book in recent memory the ethos of the country, in elegant and precise prose (LA Times )

It is rare to have this perspective delivered in English with such richness and nuance - it is a perspective quite distinct from the reportorial assembly work of Western reporters or the pained laments of Iranian exiles . . . one hopes that American policymakers will take the time to absorb this book (Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars )

Majd's cosmopolitan perspective permeates his book . . . an impressionistic collection of reporting, memoir, travelogue and commentary (Washington Post )