Tales of Two Cities, Abbas Milani
Tales of Two Cities, Abbas Milani
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Tales of Two Cities
A Persian Memoir

Author: Abbas Milani

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 5 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/04/2011

Synopsis

Born in 1949 to a prosperous family in Tehran, Abbas Milani grew up in an Iran of culture and tradition. He was sent to the United States for his studies, and it was there that he made his transition to adulthood, becoming active intellectually, sexually, and politically. Flush with 1960s idealism, he returned home in 1975, only to find his country utterly changed. His intellectual activities soon landed him in prison, and as his country crumbled before his eyes, he reluctantly moved back to the US permanently in 1986. Milanis impassioned memoir of coming to terms with the fate of his country is a loving account of the traditional Iran of his childhood, a painful portrayal of a generation of Iranians torn apart by their country and its politics, and finally, a message of hope, as he proves, in the end, that despite his hardships, he has achieved fulfillment in exile.

About Abbas Milani

Abbas Milani is a historian and author. He is the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University and codirector of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution. Milani has written for publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes and has appeared on CNN, the BBC, and NPR, among others. He lives in California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Shervin R on June 17, 2021

A nice memoir by Abbas Milani. You'll really love it if you know nothing about Iranian culture and the way they raise their children. My favorite part was his jail time in which he meets some of the Islamist activists that eventually come to power a couple of years after that.......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on March 21, 2025

Abbas Milani: Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir (1996) TIMELINE 1948-1964: Tehran (elementary school + 1-yr public school) 1964-1975: USA (Phd in political science in 1974) 1975-1986: Tehran (imprisoned by the Pahlavi regime in November 1976 in Komiteh, released May 1978, became UT professor after 1......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on June 14, 2018

Very moving. I cannot help but relate my reading of the book to some Persian people I have known through my life, be particularly one friend. The exile, the one who would go back to a place that seems to my sensibility unstable and dangerous. How could someone return, and then stay? And what is beco......more

Goodreads review by Val on November 01, 2023

A very interesting book, written by a native Iranian who was educated both in Iran and in the United States. His story occurred during pivotal times in the Middle East, including during the reigns of Shah Reza Pahlavi and the Ayatollah Khomeini. He experienced massive changes in the relative freedom......more

Goodreads review by Daan on October 21, 2021

Ik weet niet wat het is, maar hoewel er serieuze thema’s over leven (en overleven) in Iran aan bod komen, wordt het allemaal vrij terloops verteld. Daardoor werd ik niet echt gegrepen door het verhaal.......more

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