Iran (formerly known as Persia) is the second-largest country in the Middle East, and its culture reaches back through the millennia. About 2500 years ago, the Persian Empire stretched from Greece to India, and its impact is still felt in the world today. Persia was the world's first superpower. Its leader Cyrus the Great allowed kings to continue to rule the areas he conquered, earning him the moniker 'King of Kings' and laying the foundation for our next remarkable fact: Persia was the first multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-lingual empire. Persian leaders envisioned a world in which religion was not the basis for strife and division. So how did this society based on equality — and wildly passionate about civic improvements, art, philosophy, food, and poetry — become the theocracy we know today? That's a long and interesting story that we explore in our podcast and through the pages of five books we love that transported us to Iran on the page. Books we discuss include: Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran by Terence Ward Disoriental by Négar Djavadi The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2020-11-02-iran As always, you can follow us at: Our web site at Strong Sense of Place Twitter Instagram Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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