Roy Mottahedeh
‘Professor Fereydun Vahman, a very learned specialist in Iranian studies, offers a significant addition to our understanding of modern Iranian history by carefully describing the persecution of the Iranian Baha’i community, the largest religious minority in Iran.Important reading for those interested in the history of the modern Middle East and the treatment of its religious minorities.’
Franklin Lewis
‘Fereydun Vahman’s book175 Years of Persecutionprovides, in accessible narrative vignettes, a sweeping account of the persecution of Iran’s Baha’i community.Many articles and reports have documented the persecutions, but usually focusing on a chronologically and geographically confined space, often witha clinical approach. However, like Dee Brown’sBury My Heart at Wounded Kneeon the genocidal campaign against Native Americans, or James Allen’sWithout Sanctuary, a visual history of lynching in the American south, herewe have a work thatbrings the human impact to the fore.Vahman weaves together a larger story from individual, mob, or state-sponsored acts of murder, arson, gravesite desecration, imprisonment, dismissal from jobs, deprivation of pensions and education, etc.In clear and readable prose suitable for students, activists, and the general public, this book memorably describes the beleaguerment of the Baha’i community in Iran since its inception and makes it clear why the situation of Baha’is has been described as a bellwether of the prospects for true political rights and civil society for the entire Iranian polity.’
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi
‘Since the mid-nineteenth century Baha’is have encountered relentless repression in Iran. As members of a genuinely Iranian religious movement, they have been scapegoated as internal agents bent on the foreign domination of their native homeland. Professor Fereydun Vahman’s 175 Years of Persecution offers a lucid academic account of the lives of the Baha’is under such intolerable conditions and makes visible how their othering and marginalization have been pivotal to the making of a repressive political practice in modern Iran. This book is a must-read for all interested in modern Iran.’
