Dona Munker
WRITING BIOGRAPHY
and Biographical Nonfiction

    DAUGHTER OF PERSIA is the riveting history of modern Iran through the eyes of one visionary Iranian woman. It grew from the close collaboration of SATTAREH FARMAN FARMAIAN and writer DONA MUNKER.

    Continuously in print in the United States and abroad since its publication, DAUGHTER OF PERSIA has been translated into five foreign languages, adopted by numerous BOOK GROUPS and COLLEGE COURSES in the United States and Britain, and read by over a quarter of a million people worldwide.

  • "For most Americans, Iran is less a country than a blob on the map, filled with screaming mobs and glowering ayatollahs, surrounded by a sea of ignorance. DAUGHTER OF PERSIA is a needed, timely and readable antidote. Through the recollections of a remarkable woman, it humanizes and illuminates, confirming that there is another Iran whose inhabitants have for generations striven, not always vainly, for decency and freedom, social and political."

    —Karl E. Meyer, editor of the World Policy Journal and author of Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East (June, 2008), Dust of Empire, and Tournament of Shadows (co-authored with Shareen Blair Brysac).

Scroll down to read what others have said over the years.

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REVIEWERS:

    "Lyrical and enchanting....Beautifully written."
                —New York Times Book Review.

    "Daughter of Persia is a phenomenal read....An important book, both for its history and its life-story."
                — 500 Great Books by Women, by Erica Bauermeister, Jesse Larsen, and Holly Smith.

    "Exciting, absorbing...a fascinating psychological document...."
                 —Kirkus Reviews.

    "In this poignant autobiography, Farman Farmaian brings Persian history and culture alive....Highly recommended for all libraries."
                —Library Journal.

    "The cooperation between Dona Munker and Farman Farmaian in writing this book has been felicitous. Munker has captured the forceful personality and the courage and determination of the woman whose tale she tells with lucidity and power....Riveting and informative."
                —Christian Science Monitor.

    "[These] memoirs...intentionally engage a subtle dialogue with American readers. Equally important, perhaps, is the very dialogue which gave rise to this book, that between the daughter of a Persian prince and her 'writer,' Dona Munker, who traces her own involvement in this project to...her curiosity about a people who seem determined to impose themselves upon American consciousness."
                —Washington Post.

    "...Outshines more tame biographies...Even fiction fades beside an absorbing adventure which we can only read with growing admiration."
                 —London Daily Mail.

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MIDDLE EAST EXPERTS

    "A fine book, wonderfully well written, engaging, and exciting."
                —Barry Rubin, author of Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience and Iran.

    "...An absorbing account....No one interested in the history of twentieth-century Iran should miss reading this admirable personal story."
                —Sir Denis Wright, former British Ambassador to Iran.

    "A moving and powerful story, especially for those who know Iran...A 'carpet pattern of Iranian history,' written with a keen sense of both personal and national drama....It would be difficult to find a more succinct and yet accurate description of Iran's Islamic revolution."
                —L. Bruce Laingen, former US diplomat in Iran.

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WRITERS

    "A fine autobiography....as vivid and dramatic as it has a right to be."
                —Frances Fitzgerald, journalist; author of The Fire in the Lake.

    "A wonderful book to read and own; a treasury of human experience; an acknowledgement of human failure and the threads of hope that always run through it. A guide to our better understanding and greater sympathy—it sounds a lot, too much, but here it is, between covers."
                —Fay Weldon, novelist.

    "...An elegant, passionate, riveting narrative of a life hitherto veiled to most western readers. It delights the senses, stirs the heart and opens the mind entirely. It removes 'the personal is political' from the realm of cliche and restores it to its level of simple insight: the interaction between a woman and her culture is worth attending. And this book has an intelligent and brave heroine to boot. It's wonderful."
                —Louise Bernikow, lecturer, columnist, and author of The American Woman's Almanac.

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GENERAL READERS:

    "A perfect biography—fascinating, heart-warming, intelligent."
—"Reader from San Francisco," January 27, 1999 (Amazon reader review).

    "I am an American daughter of an Iranian man who grew up in Tehran the same time as the author, and I was THRILLED to find this book. It provided me with many insights and a sizeable history lesson about Iran and its culture....It is a moving account of a life of courage and dedication by a woman who dared to think beyond her cultural boundaries. I highly recommend it!"
                —Simone P. Stilson, Olympia, Washington, December 26, 1999 (Amazon reader review).

    "This is one of the best books I have read. The author is a phenomenal woman. I would recommend anybody with an interest in the Middle East, world peace and/or women's rights to read this book. Drama, adventure and human frailty—it's all here."
                —A.J., USA, May 5, 2000 (Amazon reader review).

    "Sattareh Farman Farmaian gives a spellbinding account of her life from birth until 1979, when she flees an Iran caught in the throes of the Islamic revolution. Her tale works not only as a memoir, but also as an anecdotal history of modern Iran up to and including the Islamic revolution which toppled the Pahlavi dynasty....Most moving is how she emerges as a strong, willful young woman, who successfully pleads with her father that she deserves a college education, along with her brothers. And you see the same strong determination in her efforts to elevate social work as a respected profession in Iran, and her management of the college she founds in Tehran, Iran's capital, for social work education. Anyone who wishes to understand at least some contemporary Iranian history should read this excellent tome."
                —John Kwok, New York, NY, May 8, 2001 (Amazon reader review).

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    "I found this book a wonderful and honest account of Iranian culture and what really happened during the revolution. I was only 7 years old when the revolution in Iran changed everything and affected everyone's life....This book definitely shed light on my life long questions. I learned a chapter of history that is never taught in schools. Great book!"
                —"Sehri from USA," May 14, 2002 (Amazon reader review).

    "I am now desperately searching for more books that not only give a fabulous history, but also provide the humanization and insight that this book provided. I encourage you to read it."
                —"Melville" in Ohio, June 18, 2004 (Amazon reader review).

    "A well paced and a balanced book! The writer needs to be congratulated for as we end the book we look neither at Shah Reza or Ayatollah with reproachful eyes. Indeed Sattareh has maintained a balanced approach, which is commendable. The last few pages read like a Dan Brown book. Indeed a very good buy."
                —Prabal Guha Biswas, New Delhi, India, March 15, 2005 (Amazon reader review).

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About WRITING BIOGRAPHY on StoryDriven.net:

   • The StoryDriven.Net NEWSLETTER: IMAGINING A LIFE AND THE CRAFT OF BIOGRAPHY. Free e-mail newsletter focusing on the pleasures, challenges, and practical problems of imagining a life and writing narrative in biographical nonfiction. It often discusses a specific problem and solution suggested by a selection on the JOURNAL page. The NEWSLETTER also announces new JOURNAL postings. Go to the NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE or SUBSCRIBE.

   • The StoryDriven.Net JOURNAL: Excerpts from a Life of Sara Bard Field. (Temporarily offline.) Short selections from SARA AND ERSKINE, AN AMERICAN ROMANCE, a biography in progress about the California poet, suffragist, and "free-lover," Sara Bard Field, a Baptist minister's wife who fell in love with the married attorney and philosophical anarchist, Charles Erskine Scott Wood. I am reconstructing Sara Bard Field's story from thousands of letters, as well as from her own massive oral autobiography.

   • VISITORS. Send feedback about the JOURNAL entry, writing or researching biography, or anything else on this website. Or E-MAIL ME.

ALSO:
    • "Finding Our Voice."© The process of creating a narrative voice for the book, DAUGHTER OF PERSIA.
    • Dona Munker. Professional interests and activities, plus information about a workshop on WRITING A BIOGRAPHY BOOK PROPOSAL. For more information, E-MAIL DONA MUNKER.
   • LINKS and RECOMMENDATIONS. Websites of interest for biographers; useful books.
    • Site Map
    • Contact Me

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Picture Credits:

    • Center column: Emperor Timur presenting gifts, Book of Kings (detail) courtesy UNESCO • Sidebar: Author photo by Hiroko Yoshimoto • Picnic, Book of Kings (detail) courtesy UNESCO. •: M. A. Taraghijeh, Women (detail), reproduced by permission of M.A. Taraghijeh.

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Notice of Copyright:

    • All material on this website copyright © 2005-2008 by Dona Munker, except where expressly stated or contributed by others. Copying, altering, or reproducing this material in any form without written permission is prohibited by law and may be prosecuted regardless of the venue or purpose of the copying.