For almost two centuries, followers of the Bahá’í Faith, Iran’s largest
religious minority, have been persecuted by the state. They have been made
scapegoats for the nation's ills, branded enemies of Islam and denounced as
foreign agents. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Bahá’ís have been
barred from entering the nation's universities, more than two hundred have
been executed, and hundreds more imprisoned and tortured.
Now, however, Iran is at a turning point. A new generation has begun to
question how the Bahá’ís have been portrayed by the government and the
clergy, and called for them to be given equal rights as fellow citizens. In
documenting, for the first time, the plight of this religious community in
Iran since its inception, Fereydun Vahman also reveals the greater plight
of a nation aspiring to develop a modern identity built on respect for
diversity rather than hatred and self-deception.
“175 Years of Persecution offers a lucid academic account of the
lives of the Baha'is under such intolerable conditions… This book is a
must-read for all interested in modern Iran.”
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Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Professor of History, University of Toronto
“Vahman, a very learned specialist in Iranian studies, offers a significant
addition to our understanding of modern Iranian history… Important
reading.”
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Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Research Professor, Harvard University, and
author of The Mantle of the Prophet
“Fereydun Vahman's book 175 Years of Persecution provides, in
accessible narrative vignettes, a sweeping account of the persecution of
Iran's Baha'i community. Many articles and reports have documented the
persecutions, but usually focusing on a chronologically and geographically
confined space, often with a clinical approach. However, like Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on the genocidal campaign against
Native Americans, or James Allen's Without Sanctuary, a visual
history of lynching in the American south, here we have a work that brings
the human impact to the fore. Vahman weaves together a larger story from
individual, mob, or state-sponsored acts of murder, arson, gravesite
desecration, imprisonment, dismissal from jobs, deprivation of pensions and
education, etc. In clear and readable prose suitable for students,
activists, and the general public, this book memorably describes the
beleaguerment of the Baha'i community in Iran since its inception and makes
it clear why the situation of Baha'is has been described as a bellwether of
the prospects for true political rights and civil society for the entire
Iranian polity.”
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Franklin Lewis, Associate Professor of Persian Language &
Literature, University of Chicago