The New York Times Book Review - Rafia Zakaria
Told poignantly and with a blunt honesty that seems a characteristic of Alinejad's life and writing, here is a gripping tale that permits us to peek at the inner workings of the Iranian Revolution and consider the question of its health and longevity…The Wind in My Hair exposes just how vexing it is to disentangle the veil from the context in which it is worn and thus to wage a transnational fight either for its permissibility or its elimination.
Publishers Weekly
01/15/2018
In this intense memoir, Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and women’s rights advocate, writes about her life of resistance in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Alinejad chronicles her teenage years in a rural village in the 1990s, pulling pranks as a kind of rebellion against the supreme leader (in a high school Quran-reading competition, she recited an epic poem by Ahmad Shamlou in Persian); as an adult, she became a prominent, globally recognized advocate for women’s rights in Iran. Although she had no college degree, Alinejad became a journalist, and her first significant role as a reporter was covering the Majlis (Iranian parliament), including Mohammad Khatamis’s reelection to president in 2001. Later, she would become a scathing critic of Ahmadinejad’s presidency, publishing a series of damning articles in her column “The Government of Denial” for the National Trust newspaper. Forced into exile in Britain, Alinejad launched My Stealthy Freedom—a Facebook page where women who rejected the compulsory hijab posted pictures of themselves without the head scarf. Women all over Iran risked imprisonment and even their lives and safety to post pictures. Alinejad’s stories of her illustrious career as a groundbreaking journalist challenging the Islamic Republic make for a fascinating narrative. (May)
From the Publisher
"Told poignantly and with a blunt honesty that seems a characteristic of Alinejad's life and writing, here is a gripping tale that permits us to peek at the inner workings of the Iranian Revolution and consider the question of its health and longevity."—New York Times Book Review
""The Wind in My Hair"... paints a vivid portrait of modern Iran...The book comes at a time of renewed energy within the feminist movement, and Ms. Alinejad believes that the book's themes transcend borders."—New York Times
"Alinejad's experiences make for a compelling and eye-opening read."—Christian Science Monitor
"Women all over Iran risked imprisonment and even their lives and safety to post pictures. Alinejad's stories of her illustrious career as a groundbreaking journalist challenging the Islamic Republic make for a fascinating narrative."—Publisher's Weekly
"[Masih's] descriptions of life as a journalist and activist will captivate readers interested in Iran, international affairs, gender equality, and human rights."—Booklist
"Alinejad's account provides a timely glimpse behind the Iranian curtain."—Kirkus
"Masih Alinejad is a fearless champion for women's rights. She built her career as a reporter uncovering powerful truths and writing passionately in support of human rights in a country where doing so meant risking one's freedom and safety. Her book is a must-read for anyone who cares about women's equality and autonomy-in Iran, the United States, and everywhere."—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebookand Founder of LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org
"Masih Alinejad's personal story is intriguing and inspiring. For her freedom is not just political but existential, which is why Masih's voice is so important to Iran's civil society and the Iranian people's struggles for freedom and democracy."—Azar Nafisi, authorof Reading Lolita in Tehran and The Republic of Imagination
"With mighty righteousness on her side and bravery in her heart, Masih Alinejad is a flame-thrower for the rights of all women who live under the thumb of repression and injustice."—Tina Brown, author of The Vanity Fair Diaries
"Masih Alinejad's inspiring journey from an ordinary working-class village girl in Iran into a transnational activist-journalist is a testimony to not only her talents and passionate dedication to equal rights, but also to the aspiration and determination of many Iranian women whose stories are recounted by her. Masih's courageous journey is part of a growing women's rights movement that resonates with women everywhere."—Nayereh Tohidi,Director, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State, Northridge
Kirkus Reviews
2018-03-19
Pointed memoir by an Iranian journalist who has been a longtime advocate of women's rights in the Islamic republic.Alinejad, who has largely lived in exile for years, was born in a village in northern Iran. "I couldn't imagine a better place anywhere else in the world," she writes of her hometown. Born two years before the ouster of the shah, the author never knew the relative freedoms women enjoyed in Iran before the revolution in a state so secular that a law was passed forbidding women from wearing the hijab. "If I was alive then," she writes, "I'd have opposed it not because I believe in the hijab but because I believe in freedom of choice." Such belief drew Alinejad away from her quiet home and into significant events, and she became a news reporter. "The road to expulsion is paved with scoops," she writes. It's the content of those scoops, along with the graft and corruption underlying a regime that is still made up of politicians, that will be of interest to readers, certainly much more than the mundane details of her life and rote observations such as, "I'd always wanted my life to be impactful." Driven from her country, Alinejad became a vocal and highly visible critic of the Ahmadinejad regime—but more, of the entire theocracy, which put her at odds with other members of the opposition: "The reformists didn't want to overthrow the whole regime. They just didn't like Ahmadinejad." Even more visibly, she went on to found a movement against the compulsory wearing of the hijab, which encountered its own difficulties when Western women and men who might have been allies were reluctant to criticize Iran for fear of being labeled as bigots. "I realized," she writes, "I was fighting both Trump's Islamophobia and the Islamic Republic of Iran's misogynist policies."Alinejad's account provides a timely glimpse behind the Iranian curtain.
