[...]

Shirin Ebadi's Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope is a very easy, compelling read. Of course I heard about Khanum-e Ebadi, but I had never actually heard her speak or read any of her writings.

My big fear whenever I read a memoir is the possibility that it is pure propaganda and promotion. (Witness the slew of memoirs from former officials of George W Bush's government who distance themselves from its policies. Where was your conscience when you were implementing them?) While no memoir will be free of these elements, I felt that Khanum-e Ebadi's shows a real human being who finds herself in events that teach her to stand up for justice and think about how oppressive governments, religious beliefs and cultural habits manipulate and coerce decent people into compliance.

Khanum-e Ebadi begins her career as a judge during the last years of the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. Her naiveté at this stage of her career is surprising to me, since I would assume that a judge is by nature a political animal. (Perhaps I'm too wrapped up in George Bush judicial appointments.) At any rate, this naiveté prevents her and others from seeing that the Iranian revolution of 1979 would turn ugly. I think it's this regret over her mistake of uncritical support of the revolution which caused her to become a much more sophisticated student of government and revolution later in life.

The bulk of the remainder of the book describes her participation in various cases involving defense of the rights of women, children and political prisoners. I believe this narrative will help people answer the following questions (or at least guide them to better thinking about them):

1. Is U.S. military intervention a good idea?
2. Is a government based upon religion generally, Islam specifically, compatible with a just society?
3. What should an individual do when faced with an oppressive society and government?

1. Is U.S. military intervention a good idea?

The short answer is "no." And Khanum-e Ebadi gives a lot of good reasons for this. I think one of the most important reasons is her conclusion about how to achieve positive change, which I address in point 3. The U.S. support for the 1953 coup and for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s means that most Iranians interpret covert and overt U.S. military intervention as attempts to control Iran, not free her people.

2. Is a government based upon religion generally, Islam specifically, compatible with a just society?

Without explicitly saying so, and I hope I'm not putting words in her mouth, I believe she would say, "Yes, it is possible for a religiously-based (including Islam) government to promote a just society, but there are so many ways it can go wrong that it is better to base the government on secular principles." I derive this conclusion based on her discussion of her attempts at reforming Iran's personal status laws and her impressions of the quality of people who rose in the government of the Islamic Republic.

She realizes that within the religious interpretive project, it is possible to support liberating and oppressive interpretations. So more important than the specific religious texts involved are the ethos and character of the people with the authority to impose their interpretation on society. In the case of Iran, the revolution elevated the most patriarchal elements of Iranian society to power, and their interpretations of Islam were imposed on all others, even those of recognized and authoritative religious scholars.

The second problem with religiously-based governments is that religion has instruction for both the outer and inner dimensions of a person, and the people on whom governments rely for support can more easily and quickly judge a person's outer dimension than inner dimension. This promotes hypocrites and social entreprenuers (in the most negative sense), who are able to make end runs around those who trouble themselves with the inner dimensions of religion.

I should add here that the United States certainly shows that you don't need a relgion-based government to promote hypocrites and social entrepreneurs.

3. What should an individual do when faced with an oppressive society and government?

Khanum-e Ebadi is against emmigration (although she eventually agrees that her daughter leave for Canada) and against violent revolution, such as the Mujahidiin-e Khalq Iran. I think she has a gift for recognizing the cracks and weakpoints of an oppressive system, and she believes focusing on those cracks causes effective, long-term change. For example, when an eighteen-year old woman lectures her about Islam in the Iranian countryside, she realizes that the same process which transformed this rural girl from a peasant to an ideological functionary for the Islamic Republic will later turn her and her daughters into a thinking opposition. When people emmigrate, they turn their back on attacking these weakpoints in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and she cannot hide her disappointment.

Additional links:

* Iranian Children's Rights Society

I join those admirers who have called Nobel Peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi a woman of steel. Her intelligence, tenacity, and courage to bring justice to women, children, and dissidents over the years is amazing!

She used her creative juices to organize a public funeral for one little girl who'd been left in the custody of her abusive father, after his divorce from her mother. In divorce cases, the law automatically gave custody to the father, no matter if he had an abusive history and/or was a drug abuser. Ebadi helped to bring change in that unfair law with the help of friends/colleagues through that public event as it stirred the public to speak up, and even one man came forward with another child that had been left to the whims of his abusive father, though the boy had wanted desperately to live with his mother. That was just one of many cases where she tried to effect change in unjust laws and bring justice to victims and their families, most of whom had been severely abused by their country's legal system. Or more precisely perhaps, by whoever's whims they happened to be dealing with at the moment. She has written articles that brave editors published, thereby raising the ire of government hard-liners. And she has exhaustively researched through musty old religious texts, to better argue her cases; she hasn't always won, but when she's in the courtroom, she seems to the reader to be steadfast and unafraid of any religious hard-liner, and not afraid to speak up if she thinks they said something totally unrelated to the case (which often appears to be a condescending reprimand to her).

Her belief and hope in Iran is truly admirable, though I think she comes down rather harshly on her friends and colleagues who fled the country over the years, especially during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

Her recollections of clients and friends who were abused by the powers that be are heart-wrenching. Some cases kept me on the edge of my seat, such as when a writer friend of hers was en route to attending a literary conference in Armenia and the bus driver twice abandoned the bus full of 20 or so writers on the high, winding mountains of northern Iran. The second time he abandoned it, the nose of the bus had just slipped over a mountain cliff (he jumped out in time, of course). Or when a classmate who was a judge was travelling with her fiance and two male friends to visit her mother--and was stopped by the "morality police"; they were held and interrogated for three days. It is painful to learn what little freedom of expression the Iranian people have, and the extent of intolerance the hard-line members of their government harbor towards women's rights, dissidents, and activists like Ebadi.

As Ebadi herself writes, this isn't a political memoir or political analysis of how and why events came to pass. It's her personal story and how events in the last half century have affected her life. Her strength radiates throughout the book, especially when she recounts her time in jail. Before she reported to the judge, she left a note to her family:

"My dear ones, By the time you read this, I will already be in prison. I want to assure you that I will be fine. I will be released and unharmed because _I have done nothing wrong_ (italicized in book). Can you please do something for me? I want you to imagine for a moment that I've suffered a heart attack and have been rushed to the hospital. Wouldn't that be terrible? It would be much, much worse than my arrest. So please keep all of this in perspective. Love to all..." (pp. 161-162)

Shirin Ebadi had open-minded parents, who treated her, her sisters and brother equally. What a fortunate beginning, as well as having an open-minded husband who "let me be myself from the beginning, and encouraged my work as part of me, rather than a hobby or indulgence" (p. 29)! She maintained her domestic responsibilites at home, while managing her writing and legal work. I can only marvel at how she stayed focus as mom, wife, judge, and then as human rights lawyer/activist! Her memoir will surely be an inspiration to human rights activists everywhere.

Shirin Ebadi ([...]) is trying to be loyal to Iran's cultural and religious traditions as well as universal values of human rights. Unlike many Iranians, whom she chides (perhaps unfairly!) for abandoning Iran and Islam, she has chosen not to abandon this heritage to the forces of darkness and intolerance. She has taken her life in her hands to protect what is left.
I am not a Muslim and I have left Iran (although I have family which has stayed behind), but I can only be moved by her example of steadfastness and courage.
This book is not without flaws. Its coauthor, or at least its editor, should have been familiar with Persian. And some of her reasoning about the compatibility of Islamic dogma with human rights struck me as weak. But otherwise, I heartily commend this book to anyone who cares about Iran.
One question: How come this book is so hard to find in American bookstores? Just wondering...
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog at
[...]and leave a comment.

This is a concise book on how the society is affected by revolution and its vagaries in Iran. Written by the venerable Nobel Laureate, it showcases many brutalities done by the regime in the name of tradition and religion. This also shows a woman's struggle to cope with the human rights in such regime. Although written very briefly and possibly in a haste, meaning that scenes jump to one another suddenly and there is no in depth explanation why the society is behaving like this, this book is a primer in civil movement in Iran. I had a long-time suspicion that Iranian law is very messy, making its people hate the regime and it turn Islam itself. This book proves it, which shows how Iranian penal code uses extreme means in the name of Islam, whereas the same laws are very different in other muslim countries.

Here is a woman who is trying her hardest to be islamic and make excuses for her religion which is a bad one to start with. Very few mulims seem able to look at Mohammed and his life. However, this is a brave woman in the limits of Islam.

This book is the perfect book for people looking to read inspirational stories. I would recomend this book to anyone with an open mind.

This book is the perfect book for people looking to read inspirational stories. I would recomend this book to anyone with an open mind.

This book gives an intelligent and objective view of the turmoil of Iranian life from the 1979 revolution to the last year. It isn't a history book, as mentioned in other reviews, but a memoir as it admits, thus it is more focused on the life and reflections of the author rather than a documentary approach. The author is a devout muslim and seeks to promote the view that Islam and democracy are not incompatible. She is honest in her accounts of her government and how it has treated its citizens, but she is not a shill for promoting the official US line about our relations with Iran. She definitely feels that the US has a good share of blame for the state of things. However, she does seem to avoid, for the most part, the common Iranian party line that all things bad are America's fault. Her account of the reform period of Iranian politics in the late 90's is particularly helpful in understanding how the man on the street over there really felt about the ups and downs of that time.
It is a fairly quick read that will leave you with a clearer understanding of the Iranian people, something much needed as we try to decide how to approach our relations with them.

Ms. Ebadi has a worthwhile story to tell. She certainly is a courageous woman! I can't catagorize this as a great book because I put it down several times and was not running to pick it up again. I don't understand the title at all. After reading the book I don't see Iran "awakening" at all. I see the author as someone either very clever in evading death, or just plain lucky. I agree with a previous reviewer who felt the author wrong in unfavorably judging Iranians who left after the revolution. Most of them were running for their lives, as perhaps she might have done. The author's own daughter left to study in Canada. It is a good book but I preferred Roya Hakakian's "Journey from the land of No."

One is often bombarded with the "party line" viz a viz Iran in the western media surfacing a healty dose of skepticism.

However, after reading this book the skepticism is unwarranted. A noted judge turned journalist and nobel peace prize winner takes us behind the "veil" of Iran.

She touches our hearts with graphic stories of torture, executions, rapes and ridiculous intrepretations of sharia law. At points in the books I was boiling with anger at how unjustly ordinary citizens of this country are treated in the name of Islam, particularly women and children. Yet, amongst this oppression we see humanity fortitude and courage from the least likely places slowly but surely changing the regime, in which the clergy is all powerful.

The single greatest revelation in the book is the true power and abuse of power the clergy have in the life of any Muslim. The West has very little understanding of how Muslims are oppressed and controlled by the clergy and their henchmen. Dissent is equivalent to blasphemy which is punished severely, usually by torture rape then death.

The author gives hope to all Iranian and Muslims and serves as a role model for all intellectual Muslims, women and men alike.

Written by a female judge and recipient of the Nobel Peace prize for her work, this is a rare glimpse into the world of the people of Iran, and it almost didn't happen. The author was one of the first female judges in Iran, just before the Ayatollah's takeover. Rather than leaving Iran like so many of her friends, she stayed and risked her life defending the legal rights of others. However, American Treasury Department regulations nearly prevented her from writing and publishing this book for the outside world. She participated in a lawsuit in America and won. Random House be praised! This book is the result. Quite readable and insightful. A great choice for book clubs.

She did a wonderful job. I could not stop reading it. It is good to know that I was living in Iran for past 22 years and I never knew what is exactly going on there.

A well written book outling her life at a very turbelent time in Iran. She is a highly intelligent woman who tackles oppression is a courageous and spirited way. Iran under the mullahs tried to revert to prehistoric times and basically ruined the country and its society particularily the lifes of women. This book proves the indominatability of the human spirit and the ability to come to terms with the most appalling oppression. She continued to rear her two daughters in an atmosphere of fear and oppression and still continued her wonderful work for human rights. Having read the book I believe she richly deserved the Nobel prize. The book demonstrates that we are all the one spirit and despite geographic , religous or cultural differences we are all trying to do our best in living our lives and doing the best for our children. Life can be a struggle but it is much worse for people living under oppressive regimes. In helping to put a face on a "muslim" we can see that in the extremities of any religion great evil can be perpetrated in the name of a God but the vast majority do not support these extreme views.
Anybody with "hawkish" views about military intervention should read this book and I believe that if read with an open mind your position may very well change.
Again what it demonstrates to me is that change can only be gradual and countries will eventually change only through the will of its people. The problem for Iran is that a lot of its best brains are leaving in droves and who can blame them!

Very accurate description of daily lives in Iran, I'm very pleased that finally someone -and who could be better than Ebadi- wrote a book explaining the strange phase Iranian people went through in the past half a century.

I specially enjoyed the parts where she explains the gradual enforcement of Hejab (women's dresscode), and the gradual fading of women's rights in the Religious regime.

I've recommended this book to all my friends. For anyone who is interested on the subject, this is as close as one can get to how it feels to really live in Iran.

Additionally, Ebadi is able to transfer her amazingly strong personality right to the reader. You'll finish the book thinking that you should seriously put up with a lot less s*** than you do, even if it might sometimes be scary to single-handedly stand up for what you believe.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Shirin Ebadi's book, as I have been intrigued by her character and modesty ever since she won the Nobel Prize in 2003.

This is a book that says so much in a simple and classy language; A story of a woman's struggle- a very devotedly stubborn woman's struggle - to stand steadfast at her career, society, and family- in a country that had changed face and direction in a glimpse.

"Fortunately or unfortunately," [Ebadi's favourite opening statement], this is not a much awaited book of scandal, neither it is a recount of tragedy, reproach, or blame. It is a book where Ebadi -despite all she's been through- heralds in the future, and the awakening of Iran. It is a book of fundamentalism in its most beautiful form: of love, of patriotism, of unyielding will, and of upholding principles.

Critical but not offensive, inspiring but not patronizing. It is Shirin Ebadi's "private" memoir of a whole country.

I purchased this book in Amsterdam and read the entire book on a flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. I am delighted it is available on Amazon as there were challenges getting it published in the US. Shirin Ebadi is a very inspiring woman and she made me re-evaluate what have I done lately to make the world a better place. Her courage, tenacity, sense of justice and high level of integrity are communicated beautifully through the book. The ramifications of politics are extremely interesting in the impact they have on the everyday lives of average people, such as who is power the Shaw vs. the Ayotolla? A wake-up call of how your life can change very quickly through no fault of your own. It is one of the best books I have read in years, I am recommending it to all of my reading friends. This is a must read - Hats off to Shirin I would love to meet her!

Ms. Ebadi gives a great account of true activism in Iran. The book demonstrates both a simple and real account of society and politics in Iran and a view of Ms. Ebadi's activism and perseverance.

Unlike many Iranian intellectuals who inevitably left Iran, Ebadi stayed and fought inside Iran. She fought for human rights including children's rights and women's rights while her actions put her on top of the list of targets for hardliners responsible for serial killings of other writers and intellectuals.

Despite all of this, Ms.Ebadi's well-deserved nobel prize has induced jealousy and animosity from closed minded individuals inside and outside of Iran and that's why one might occasionally hear some incoherent rantings against her work.

In the end this book is a great read for anyone who is interested in getting a real peek inside Iran and see what this country is all about.

Finally, we learn about Shirin Ebadi's struggles and trials and tribulations from inside Iran. This Nobel Peace Prize Winner candidly discusses her country's realities -- her struggles, her hopes and the importance of US-Iranian dialogue. Shirin Ebadi's story is unique in every way and we learn about the fine line she walks while surviving under the Islamic Republic of Iran. She's daring, brilliant and a trail blazer ... If you liked "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and "Lipstick Jihad" you will be sure to enjoy this book!

Mrs. Ebadi's purpose in writing the book is to give Westerners an accurate and eye-opening account of the human rights struggle in Iran. It is a fascinating biography full of political facts, personal struggles, and victory. Ebadi tells the reader in her epilogue that her desire was not to explain and give motives to the political crises that Iran has faced over the past fifty years, but to present the historical legacy of upheavel in her country in a way that Americans can comprehend and understand clearly. If you want to learn about Persian politics and the influence of hard-line Islam on Iranian society, this is the book. If you want to learn about the struggle of women under the pressures of conservative Islam, this is the book. If you want to read a brief, quick biography, this is also the book. If you want to deconstruct your stereotypes about Islam and the Koran, this is the book. Ebadi's writing is clear, simple, and stunning.

Ms. Ebadi is a lawyer and all lawyers lie in order to sell their story.

Well, Ms. Ebadi what did you achieve as an activist in Iran? Nothing.

Since the U.S is violating human rights than why are in US and publishing book?

Why anyone should even believe her. She claims that her father was forced into a second marriage. Just adopt a child.

Truth is hard to accept. It is o.k you will learn to accept other people's idea.

Ms. EBADI is one big liar. She acts like a quality of fox, she is deceptive. This book leads to no where. This book is totally waste of time and ask for refund.

The book description has refered to her as Dr. EBADI. From which university did Ms. EBADI garduate with PhD?

Why Ms. EBADI wears head scarf in Iran and out side of Iran does not wear head scarf?

One more reason not to believe Ms. EBADI that she is a lawyer and all lawyer's lie period. For example, she claimed she came from untraditional family. According to her testimony her father had two wivies. In case, the first wife did not barry children, adopt a child.

Ms. EBADI stated that the US is a terrorist country. Than why is she in US and having an interview with Opera Winfery?
Because Ms. EBADI is hypcrit.

Everyone knows her daughter is attending McGill University in Canada as a spy.

Last point, Ms. EBADI claimed that she was an activist. What did she accomplish as an activist?

Ms. EBADI is one big liar. She acts like a quality of fox, she is deceptive. This book leads to no where. This book is totally waste of time and ask for refund.