A dense overview of a movement with meaningful global implications.
An analysis of the latest wave of feminist protest in Iran.
In September 2022, Mahsa Amini was killed by officers of the Islamic Republic’s vice squad after being arrested in Tehran for wearing an ill-fitting veil. Her murder sparked a series of protests across Iran that lasted several months, fueled by social media and driven by Iranian youth, both male and female. While Iran has had its share of notable feminist activists following the Islamic Revolution and the implementation of the mandatory veil, Khosrokhavar contends that the “Mahsa Movement” established a new precedent for activism in the country, distinct in its embrace by youth whose growing secularization has cultivated a certain “joie de vivre” that lays a foundation for equality and cooperation between men and women. The author catalogs outrageous acts of violence against women, offers examples of increasing and broadening support and solidarity from popular icons and members of the diaspora, and tells of the defiant spirit among the youth in today’s Iran. But his chief preoccupation is with the dispositions of today’s Iranian youth, whose changing values and worldview swirl beneath their political activity and the Islamic Republic’s oppressive backlash. These youth belong to the “would-be middle class,” robbed of future prospects, economic mobility, and political freedom by autocracy and theocratic Shi’ism; they are calling for a full-blown alternative to the Islamic regime rather than posing arguments laced with theological justification and sensitivity. The text is well researched, but the author relies on repetitive insistence, rather than methodical organization, leaving the fullness of the Mahsa Movement’s singularity, promise, and forewarning rather unsharpened. Still, Khosrokhavar’s text clarifies the terms of the mounting pressure in the standoff between an increasingly desperate and ruthless Islamic Republic and its youthful citizens.
A dense overview of a movement with meaningful global implications.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9781509564491
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Polity
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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