Lectures: Additional Notes

After his lecture, “Behind the Veil: The Art of Islamic Persia”, John Osborne very kindly passed on a book list for those interested in further study of this area.

IRAN / PERSIA: Recommended Reading

History
Michael Axworthy – Iran: Empire of the Mind (Penguin)

Ancient Persia
John Curtis – Ancient Persia (British Museum Press)
Curtis & Tallis – Forgotten Empires (BM exhibition catalogue ‘Ancient Persia’)
Ferdowsi (trans Dick Davis) – Shahnameh- The Persian Book of Kings (Penguin)

Islamic Persia
Carole Hillenbrand – Islam: A New Historical Introduction (Thames and Hudson)
Barbara Brend – Islamic Art (British Museum)
Robert Hillenbrand – Islamic Art & Architecture (Thames & Hudson)
John Bowen – Poems from the Persian (Scorpion, o/p)
Wilfred Blunt – Isfahan: Pearl of Persia (Pallas Athene)
Sheila Canby – Shah ‘Abbas: the Remaking of Iran (British Museum)
Sheila Canby – Shah ‘Abbas and the Treasures of Imperial Iran (British Museum
Penelope Hobhouse & Jerry Harpur – Gardens of Persia (Cassell)
Yves Porter & Arthur Thevenart – Palaces and Gardens of Persia (Flammarion)

Crafts
Hans E Wulff – The Traditional Crafts of Persia (The M.I.T. Press, o/p)

Travel and Culture
Robert Byron – The Road to Oxiana (Penguin and Picador)
Jason Elliot – Mirrors of the Unseen (Picador)
Terence O’Donnell – Garden of the Brave in War (Ticknor & Fields, o/p)
Lois Pryce – Revolutionary Ride (Nicholas Brealey)

Modern Iran
Ervand Abrahamian – A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge)
Sattareh Farman Farmaian – Daughter of Persia (Anchor)
Azar Nafisi – Reading Lolita in Teheran (Fourth Estate)
Christopher de Bellaigue – Patriot of Persia: Mohammed Mossadegh (Bodley Head)
Shirin Ebadi – Iran Awakening (Rider)
Nikki Keddie – Modern Iran (Yale)
Elaine Sciolino – Persian Mirrors (Simon & Schuster)
Kader Abdullah – The House of the Mosque (Canongate)
James Buchan – Days of God: The Revolution in Iran (John Murray)
Michael Axworthy – Revolutionary Iran (Allen Lane)

Cuisine
Sally Butcher – Persia in Peckham: Recipes from Persepolis (Prospect Books)
Sabrina Ghayour – Persiana; Recipes from the Middle East… (Mitchell Beazley)

Guidebooks
Hilary Smith et al – Iran (Bradt)
Helen Loveday & others – Iran (Odyssey)

John Osborne November 2017 (revised)