Living In The Islamic Republic Is Like

The Revolution Taught Me Not To Be Consoled By Other People's Miseries, Not To Feel Thankful Because So Many Others Had Suffered More. Pain And Loss, Like Love And Joy, Are Unique And Personal; They Cannot Be Modified By Comparison To Others.

We In Ancient Countries Have Our Past- We Obsess Over The Past. They, The Americans, Have A Dream: They Feel Nostalgia About The Promise Of The Future.

It Is Amazing How, When All Possibilities Seem To Be Taken Away From You, The Minutest Opening Can Become A Great Freedom.

What Dazzles Us In Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra Are Not The Alluring Mythologies About The Evasive Queen, But The Astonishing If Rare Historical Facts That Schiff Has Meticulously And Lovingly Excavated. Schiff Offers Not Just Cleopatra's Story But The Story Of An Amazing Era, One That Has Vanished But Still Affects Us, Questioning The Way We Look At Myth, History, And Ourselves.

Every Culture Has Something To Be Ashamed Of, But Every Culture Also Has The Right To Change, To Challenge Negative Traditions, And Create To New Ones.