5 books to help you understand Iran – recommended by experts

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has been condemned in the West as a repressive theocracy. But the history of this vast nation of more than 90 million people is long and complicated. In times of war, we can overlook complexities in search of simple certainties. We asked five experts on Iran to recommend books that offer complex insights into the nation’s politics, culture and people. They explore the revolution through religion, politics, Iranian mythology and personal experience. There’s a classic graphic-novel memoir and a daring novel of addiction. And an astonishing memoir takes us inside Iran’s prisons.

Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a beautifully illustrated and compelling memoir of Iran’s 1979 revolution, told from the childlike perspective of the author as she comes of age amid uprising, crackdown and sudden, enforced Islamisation. Persepolis is a graphic novel for people who don’t read graphic novels – its hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations enhance the story without taking away from its playful hilarity – and at times profound and confronting sadness. This is a highly personal story, but also an account of how a proud and ancient people came to be ruled by a fanatical minority. Through the story of Satrapi and her family, we glimpse the complexities of modern Iranian history. A unique and special book, Persepolis will stay with you long after you finish turning its pages. Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a research fellow in security studies at Macquarie University. The Shah and the Ayatollah: Iranian Mythology and Islamic Revolution – Fereydoun Hoveyda

The Shah and the Ayatollah is written by Fereydoun Hoveyda, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations from 1971 until 1979. It attempts to explain the phenomenon of the Islamic Revolution from a fresh angle. Unlike many scholars who focused on the role of authoritarianism, Westernisation or economic factors, Hoveyda looks into Iranian mythology. He uses what he calls Rostam Syndrome to explore the reasons behind the Islamic Revolution. Rostam, a mythological hero in the Iranian epic Shahnameh, faces his son Sohrab on the battlefield; unaware of his true identity, he kills him. By defining the leader in Iran as a father, and following father–son relationships through different segments of the society, Hoveyda explains the revolution not in terms of people seeking democracy, but as an endeavour to replace the weak patriarch (the shah) with the strong one (the ayatollah). Hossein Asgari is a postdoctoral research fellow in the College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities at Adelaide University. The Uncaged Sky – Kylie Moore-Gilbert

The Uncaged Sky is the astonishing memoir of Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian who spent 804 days in Iran’s prisons. As her interrogations began, she was served chocolate cake, typifying the bizarre style of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. She reports the tortures and reprieves of prison life: disgusting toilets, lenient wardens and complex relationships. In their wake, her resilience is jaw-dropping; “I am still free, because freedom is an attitude, freedom is a state of mind”. She illuminates broader issues in Iran, including the Revolutionary Guards’ extortions (“it’s about determining your price”) and the treatment of imprisoned women. In the inmates that protect her, and in her own machinations, we observe people seeking out agency – freedom within repression. Hessom Razavi is a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Western Australia. His family fled to Australia from Iran in the 1980s to escape persecution. How Islam Rules in Iran: Theology and Theocracy in the Islamic Republic – Mehran Kamrava

Mehran Kamrava is an authority on Iran. His book, How Islam Rules in Iran: Theology and Theocracy in the Islamic Republic, provides comprehensive coverage of the evolution of the structure of Islamic rule, from its inception in 1979 to 2024. It examines the theological debate that has shaped the Islamic Republic’s political institutions and state policies. In this, Kamrava shows “how religious intellectual production in Iran has impacted the ongoing transformation of Iranian Shi’ism and ultimately underwritten the fate of the Islamic Republic”. The book is very insightful about the ways religion and politics have interacted to make the Republic both resilient and vulnerable. Amin Saikal is emeritus professor of Middle Eastern studies at Australian National University. In Case of Emergency – Mahsa Mohebali

It’s one of Iran’s many paradoxes that Mahsa Mohebali’s prize-winning 2008 novel, about an addict in an apocalyptic, earthquake devastated Tehran, could be published – though some parts were censored, and all her books are now banned. Originally published as Negaran nabash (Don’t Worry), In Case of Emergency follows an unconventional, disenchanted young woman from Iran’s upper class as she roams the city’s streets seeking her next dose, while her family tries to escape Tehran. Playful and raw, it depicts youth at the point of despair. Extreme in its language and topics, it is not for the faint-hearted: translator Mariam Rahmani has deliberately gone all-in on the profanity. The result is a deeply unsettling, powerful novel that sheds light on a facet of Iranian society you didn’t know existed. Laetitia Nanquette is an associate professor in literary studies at UNSW, specialising in Persian literature and Iranian book history.