Heather Lehr Wagner

This is a YA book and it suited my purposes, which was to get a general overview of the topic without getting into every nook and cranny, thought and perspective, which could have easily ended up as a 600 page book, something I do not have patience for any longer.

I find YA books best when I just want to get a decent idea of the subject matter or biographical information without the book being too long or too detailed.

I have mixed emotions about the Shah. It is indisputable that his police force was brutal and that you could have been beaten, jailed or maybe worse for uttering a word against him or his monarchy, yet, in order to achieve his goal of making Iran more Westernized and more a part of the 20th century, perhaps he felt the only way to really achieve that was by cracking a few heads. I don't know. I am not into politics, but at the same time, anything that holds women back or dominates/controls them, whether do to culture, religion or anything else rattles my chain.

I do know that more than likely those hostages that were held there when I was just a high school girl would probably never had been taken if the Shah was in power rather than Khomeini.… (altro)