Searching for Hassan - Journey to the Heavy

Zusatztext “Astonishing and deeply poignant.” – The Washington Post “Quixotic! colorful and amusing. . . . An unexpected ode to Iran.” – The New York Times Book Review “Informative and touching . . . provides a marvelously nuanced portrait of Iran.” –Francine Prose! Elle “Ward describes a more intricate image of a nation caught in a tug of war with itself. . . . He shows the country in all its complexity.” – Los Angeles Times “[A] nostalgic! sometimes harrowing pilgrimage.” – The New Yorker “A wonderfully tactile! rich book . . . written from the right place (the heart)! and with the right kind of search in mind (the search for grace).” – Esquire “Ward’s sympathetic and humane portrayals of everyday Iranians can help us transcend today’s policy papers and State Department briefings in order to find commonalities.” – USA Today “ Searching for Hassan should be required reading for U.S. foreign policy makers.” – BookPage “Ward hooks the reader with his unique past and observant eye.” – Detroit Free Press “A powerful memoir that plumbs the depths of Iranian culture and tradition. . . . A memorable journey.” – Library Journal Informationen zum Autor Terence Ward was born in Boulder! Colorado! and spent his childhood in Saudi Arabia and Iran. He is a cross-cultural consultant who has advised corporations and governments in the Islamic world and the West. He divides his time between Florence! Italy! and New York. Klappentext The unique culture of Iran and the sweep of its history are revealed in this evocative travelogue of an American family searching for a lost friend in the country of their youth. An insightful! informative! and moving portrait of the Middle East. Photos. Chapter 1 1 Fellow Travelers The start of a journey in Persia resembles an algebraical equation: it may or it may not come out. --Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana In early April 1998, my family began our long-awaited journey back home. Not to our ancestral Ireland, but to Iran. While most Americans still recoiled with images of ranting hostage takers and wild-eyed terrorists, we put our fears aside. My three brothers and I, with our elderly parents, would cross the vast Iranian plateau on a blind search for Hassan, our lost friend and mentor who had taken care of us in Tehran so many years ago. Our seven-hundred-mile overland trek, from the ancient southern city of Shiraz, once called the Paris of Persia, all the way north to Tehran, the metropolis of modern Iran, would be a cross-cultural odyssey to rediscover a country, its people and our much-loved adopted Iranian family. Journeys are often conceived in a miraculous split-second flash that illuminates the purpose and route of passage. Once the embryo forms, everything else falls into place in scattered pieces--visas and plane tickets, weathered maps, oblique itineraries--a jigsaw puzzle of fact and fantasy. In early December 1997, my youngest brother, Richard, phoned me with surprising news from his home in Saudi Arabia. In the Gulf island state of Bahrain, he said, visas for Iran could be found. His voice, broken up by a poor connection, barked and echoed. "Just heard that ladies from Arabia-bia flew into Iran on a shopping binge. They landed in Isfahan, bought their carpets-pets and got out safely put a rug under each arm." "No!" "Got their vi-sas in Bahrain." "For how long?" "Less than a week." "Any Americans?" "Don't know. Tomorrow I'll find out. So, baba, are you ready-eady to go back-ack?" "Mamma mia," I stammered. "Goo-ood. Great id-ea! Ask Mom and Dad. What about the whole family-mily?" His question fell through the receiver with the weight of heavy granite. The entire family? "A tough...

Product details

• Authors: Terence Ward
• Publisher: Anchor Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 04.03.2003
• EAN: 9781400032235
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-3223-5
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 204 mm x 16 mm
• Subject: Travel > Travel guides