Essays and Reviews

Reza Aslan’s An American Martyr in Persia Argues for US-Iranian Friendship

On Reza Aslan’s An American Martyr in Persia—The Markaz Review

Tear Down That Will

On Jennifer Hofmann’s “The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures”—The New York Times Book Review

The Chance for Transformation
On Giorgio van Straten’s “In Search of Lost Books” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

A Persian Turned Parisian Insists: I’m Not an Immigrant, I’m an Exile
On Negar Djavadi’s “Disoriental”—The New York Times Book Review

The Ark and The Archivist
Danilo Kiš’s early life was full of death and disappearances. His writing strived to make sense of both.
—The Believer

Gulf War
On Sophia Al-Maria’s “The Girl Who Fell to Earth” —The New York Times Book Review

Castaways
On Nathacha Appanah’s “The Last Brother”—The New York Times Book Review

Love in the Time of Genocide
On Kim Echlin’s “The Disappeared”—The New York Times Book Review

Sex and Other Social Devices
On Daniyal Mueenuddin’s “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders”—The New York Times Book Review

Sadegh Hedayat’s The Blind Owl
Can we transcend despair through the act of writing? —The Believer