The Iranian People Have A Proud Past.

It Was Actually Fun To Write [memoir], Because I Went Back To Interview People My Parents Had Taught Or Who Had Worked With Them, And I Learned A Lot About Them That I Hadn't Known.

Everybody In The World Is Capable Of Democratic Development. Some People In The World Are Unlucky Enough To Get Stuck With Really Bad Political Leadership And With Really Bad Political Institutions.

Education Is Transformational. It Changes Lives. That Is Why People Work So Hard To Become Educated And Why Education Has Always Been The Key To The American Dream, The Force That Erases Arbitrary Divisions Of Race And Class And Culture And Unlocks Every Person's God-given Potential.

Even When You Cherish Democratic Ideals, It Is Never Easy To Turn Them Into Effective Democratic Institutions. This Process Will Take Decades.

It's So Much A Part Of Me That It's Almost Hard To Describe Myself In The Absence Of [faith].