A useful addition to the literature surrounding a suddenly influential nation.
A sort-of-insider’s view of contemporary Iran, which views itself as David against the American Goliath.
London-bred and used to British insularity, fluent enough in Farsi to pass as a native unadulterated by Western contact, the grandson of an ayatollah and son of an Iranian diplomat, New Yorker contributor Majd confesses to a frisson of nationalistic pride after the Iranian revolution of 1979, when the nation captured international headlines and for once became recognizable, even as it “ushered in an era of successful but much-feared Islamic fundamentalism.” It is no small thing, he suggests, that in 30 years Iran has risen from backwater, tinhorn dictatorship to public enemy No. 1. Regardless of their politics, Iranians around the world take a not-so-secret pride in stymieing the efforts of the world’s self-proclaimed sole superpower, and other Muslims, think well of the Islamic Republic precisely because, by their lights, it stands up for them against American expansionist designs. President and international bad guy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deserves much credit for this; though a Holocaust denier and of nutty affect, he offers Muslims “hope that they could guide their own destiny wherever they were.” Adds Majd, perhaps unhelpfully, most Muslims don’t know from the Holocaust, “and men like Ahmadinejad know it.” On another note, Iranians were famed for a couple of things before the radical-fundamentalist era, and in truth they “spend an awful lot of time pondering carpets and virtually no time thinking about cats.” Do Westerners have anything to fear from Iran? Probably not from Ahmadinejad, who lacks religious credentials but outmaneuvered the theocrats with his belief that the messiah is just around the corner—a view that many American politicians hold as well.
A useful addition to the literature surrounding a suddenly influential nation.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-385-52334-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A spirited collection of more than 50 short writings by African-American college students. The strength of this distinct collection, edited by essayist, poet, and law student Tarpley, lies in the variety of voices presented. In essays, fiction, and poetry, young African-Americans grapple with a wide gamut of issues ranging from growing up gay in a racist, homophobic society to attempting to resolve the tensions within their own communities. The most effective writings are those that don't usually make their way into the mainstream press. In ``Pimp 4 Life,'' San Francisco State University film student Lichelli Lazar-Lea writes graphically about the misogyny she faces as an active member of the Bay Area Hip Hop community. She ends by urging her sisters to value themselves enough to stop competing with one another over men who disdain them. ``We are treating brothers like boys if we allow them to disrespect us, and they are definitely not boys, even though racist society teaches them that they are.'' In another rarely aired issue, Sarah Van't Hul describes growing us as an adopted black child in a white family in Ann Arbor, Mich. She experienced sometimes cruel rejection from blacks and whites; she shares unusual insights about both worlds and condemns the Black Social Workers Association for depriving many children of loving homes in advocating that whites no longer be allowed to adopt black children. UCLA graduate student Michael Datcher writes movingly about ``his'' L.A. and the police brutality that he and other blacks have known for too long. In this, as in other pieces, the chasm between white and black sensibilities is disturbingly apparent. Most of the voices are fresh and authentic- -so much so that a glossary of slang would have helped readers appreciate the rap-related pieces. Some of the essays verge on polemics, and not all of the poems are accessible, but this book is a valuable eye-opener for anyone who wants to know ``what time it is.''
Pub Date: Jan. 31, 1995
ISBN: 0-8070-0928-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Washington, executive editor of the Philadelphia Tribune, conducted these interviews of black judges with the conviction that they would have an important and unique point of view of the judicial system. ``Teach'' vies with ``justice'' for the honor of most-used word in the book. Those polled here, who include such noted judges as Leon Higgenbotham and Constance Baker Motley, express their belief that as minority judges they have an obligation to reach out to black communities, to rekindle some faith in a system that is often perceived as the enemy. Of the 30,000 federal judges in the country, only 1,000 are black. Those interviewed here call for more minority judges, who would be needed role models and whose presence might enable minorities in the system to believe that they're getting a fair shake: A black who is judged in the court of another black can perhaps feel that justice has been done, not that he has been done in by the system. In addition, most insist that fixing problems in society would do more to reduce crime than would longer and more frequent incarcerations. Many of these judges are on the forefront of a movement to find sentencing alternatives, and most dislike mandatory sentencing. (Henry Bramwell is a rare exception here, believing there is no alternative to incarceration.) What emerges from the collection as a whole is a portrait of judges (including two women, who address the complexities of being a ``double minority'') whose own experiences of bias served as a motivation to participate in and improve the system rather than avoid it like the plague. Unfortunately, the transcribed interview format used here by Washington tends to blur the distinctions of voice that might better have emerged in written submissions. This is an uneven but insightful series of observations that, though generally liberal, covers the political and geographic spectrum.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-56584-104-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: The New Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
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