The golden cage : three brothers, three choices, one destiny

Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2003), and the only Iranian to receive a Nobel Prize in any field, releases a new memoir in April 2011 entitled The Golden Cage: Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny. The book is a fascinating, contemporary autobiographical story of how Iran came to be the nation it is today. The timeliness of her writing is all the more important with daily breaking news of democracy arising in the region. As she says of her new publication, “History is best described through life stories that are told in simple ways by appealing to what human beings hold in common, the love of life and country.” She is a remarkable woman because of her keen intellect, but even more so because of her inbred commitment to, and understanding of, egalitarianism. It is honest to interpret this to mean she is a fierce advocate for women's and children's rights. In addition to focusing on bringing democracy to Iran, she is a visionary in having foreseen what we are now witnessing in the Middle East and foreseeing the same to be inevitable throughout the world for all dictatorships. Dr. Ebadi attributes this in part to the spread of technology, which allows those imprisoned by governments to see how the free world lives. Naturally, the oppressed choose free will. She also believes the innate human spirit to be a driving force behind the inevitability of democracies. Of central importance in Dr. Ebadi's message about Iran and Islam is that she is a moderate. She believes Islam and democracy are compatible. Dr. Ebadi loves peace and abhors violence. In between those two ends, lays a middle ground in which she deftly works to persuade world leaders and the world population to better understand her homeland. A place where she describes the people as a simmering kettle -- bubbling to the top is her voice and those of others calling for Iran's democratization. Clearly this has made her an enemy of the current Iranian regime... History Perhaps Is Best Described Through Life Stories We Each Can Hold Dearly. The Golden Cage Is One Such Story About Three Brothers The Author Knew Through Their Sister, Pari, A Childhood Friend. Each Brother Subscribes To A Different Political Ideology That Tears Iran And Their Lives Apart. As Pari Observes, Her Brothers Live Deluded Lives In Golden Cages Of Ideology. These Words Mark The Beginning Of This Story, Illuminating The Multifaceted, Oppressive Iran Of Today And Years Past. -- Publisher Description Old Friendships -- The House In Abbas Abad -- Mossadegh's Pen -- One Soldier's Destiny -- Two Brothers -- In The Name Of The Shah -- Four Gray, Smooth, Bare Walls -- Mashhad -- Ali's Beard -- Allah Akbar -- A Wedding -- The Pagosha Revolutionary -- Under Surveillance -- Twenty Years In A Single Night -- From Dates To The United Nations In A Single Fax. -- The Doctor's Justice -- The Visit To Evin -- American Iranians -- Ruhollah's Song -- The Final Betrayal -- Something Warm -- A New Life -- A Long Voyage Into The Abyss -- Give My Best To Tehran -- Enemy Of The Revolution -- Return To Tehran -- A Monument Of Sand -- The Paris Sky -- A Family Reunion. Shirin Ebadi. **"If you do not have the power to overthrow the rule of oppression, inform others of the oppression."―Persian proverb** For over fifty years the Shah Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran until Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 Islamic Revolution seized power and began its own reign of tyranny. The questions about the revolution shape __The Golden Cage__ while the answers shed light on Islamic Iran's current events and tell us why it strives for nuclear energy, chants "Death to Israel," and claims to be the most powerful force in the Middle East and Muslim world. History perhaps is best described through life stories we each can hold dearly. __The Golden Cage__ is one such story about three brothers the author knew through their sister, Pari, a childhood friend. Each brother subscribes to a different political ideology that tears Iran and their lives apart. As Pari observes, her brothers live deluded lives in golden cages of ideology. These words mark the beginning of this story, illuminating the multifaceted, oppressive Iran of today and years past