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Title: A History of Iran

Subtitle: Empire of the Mind

Author: Michael Axworthy

Narrator: Peter Ganim

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-16-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 81 votes

Genres: History, World

Publisher's Summary:

Although frequently vilified, Iran is a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world. Its political impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbors in the Middle East but also throughout the world. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis, and the current standoff over Irans nuclear ambitions, Michael Axworthy vividly depicts the nations rich history. He explains clearly and carefully both the complex succession of dynasties that ruled ancient Iran and the surprising ethnic diversity of the modern country, held together by a common culture. With Iran again the focus of the worlds attention, A History of Iran is an essential guide to understanding this volatile nation.

Members Reviews:

Lazy Narration

It's a 4 star book. Narration was great as far as voice acting is concerned, but the narrator kept on unnecessarily and even pretentiously trying to pull off an "authentic" pronunciation when uttering an Iranian word or name, while having no idea what the Persian language sounds like. I'll go over a few of the many:

1) He insistently over-pronounced every 'h' consonant as in an Arabic 'hard h', while anyone having picked up a rudimentary sense of Persian phonetics from having heard a conversation or two would know that it doesn't have a hard h.

2) The familiar French loan word "montage" (pronounced "montaazh" in Persian) was pronounced "montazeh", obviously confusing the 'zh' consonant with a distinct 'z' and 'h'.

3) Even recently prominent proper names (like "Ahmadinejad") regularly featured in the news were mispronounced.

This is not a librivox recording that you'd do for free as a hobby. You are paid for this and should act professionally and responsibly. Put in some effort, do your homework.

well balanced overview of Iranian history

Good overview of Iran from its ancient history to the Green Revolution. The author goes beyond discussing historical events and gives particular interest to Iranian poetry, minorities in Iran, and the history of US involvement in Iran.

Good book, bad narration

The story and history is really interesting. Unfortunately, the narrator doesn't speak the language, so the accent and pronunciation were hard to bear.

Awesome read

Very insightful great historical record from start to present. No disappointments here. Especially enjoyed the account of transition from Zoroastrianism to Islam

Weak close

Biased toward the theocracy at the end. A grater focus on pre-twentieth century history wouls have been uaeful.