The title is somewhat misleading. Persian Empire serves more of a backdrop to a narrative about the heroic struggle and legendary civilization of Ancient Greece. The story is wonderful in its own right, but this is not what I counted on. There're many good books on the Greek-Persian war. I expected a more thorough investigation of this world's first superpower, to which that conflict amounted to something more than a border skirmish. Too bad yet again we only scratched surface and seen just a tip of an iceberg. I know there are scholarly tomes, but I wanted something more easy-going...alas, not this time.
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Interestingly written and brimful of insights, this book still left me with mixed feelings. I tried to learn more about the Iranians and learn i did in spades, but what was it that i learned? Probably the outcome of reading the book could be best illustrated by comments of my fellow travelers, who said that my inquisitive questions on terrorism, sexual and familial misfortunes, regime's abuses etc., with which i pestered my hospitable and eager to please Iranian hosts, made them wince. 

Surely i got a better understanding of all those unsavory things, but i have feeling that i was deprived of 80% sunny percents of the Iranians' daily lives. And the impression i got of the society is very skewed. I recognize this from my own experience of talking to foreigners in Russia, who come wide-eyed, well-versed in country's multiple shortcomings, and throughly suspicious. Yes, maybe 100% of what they read is true, but it somehow apparent that i live in a parallel world, mostly blissfully unscathed by all these demonic stories, fed to hapless foreigners. Question is -who's life is real then? #bookstagram #books #book #nonfiction #gonzo #iran #книга #книги #книжнаяполка #чточитаешь #нонфикшн #путешествие #travel #travelogue #иран #тегеран #tehran #мир