Yaghmaian, Behzad 1953–

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Yaghmaian, Behzad 1953–

PERSONAL: Born 1953, in Iran; immigrated to the United States. Ethnicity: Iranian.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Delacorte Press, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Ramapo College, Ramapo, NJ, professor of political economy; Neshat, Iran, columnist, 1998–99; has also taught international political economics in Iran and Turkey.

WRITINGS:

Social Change in Iran: An Eyewitness Account of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movements for Rights, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2002.

Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Behzad Yaghmaian was born in Iran and later moved to the United States, where he studied international political economics. His primary focus is on globalization and the study of third-world nations, and he has published numerous academic articles on this subject. During the brief span of political opportunity in Iran from 1998 to 1999, Yaghmaian wrote a regular column for the newspaper Neshat. He has also served as a consultant for a documentary on Iran that was produced as a joint venture between PBS and Channel Four in England.

Yaghmaian's first book, Social Change in Iran: An Eyewitness Account of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movements for Rights, examines the cultural rift between the fundamentalist ideology and the new generation of Iranian youth. The book discusses the Islamic Republic and the results of the pressures for a free press and student rights. In a review for the Middle East Journal, Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi remarked that "although this book is fascinating reading, there are flaws in the author's understanding of the processes of change in Iran and in the way he conceptualizes them."

Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West is the result of Yaghmaian's two-year journey across the Middle East and Europe as he followed migrants leaving Muslim countries for the West. Julia M. Klein, writing for Mother Jones, called the book an "intimate, horrifyingly vivid account of the plight of Muslim refugees." A contributor for Kirkus Reviews found the book to be "affecting, immediate and well written."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 2005, Hazel Rochman, review of Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West, p. 7.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2005, review of Embracing the Infidel, p. 1180.

Library Journal, November 1, 2005, Lisa Klopfer, review of Embracing the Infidel, p. 102.

Middle East Journal, autumn, 2002, Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, review of Social Change in Iran: An Eyewitness Account of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movements for Rights, p. 711.

Mother Jones, January-February, 2006, Julia M. Klein, review of Embracing the Infidel, p. 77.