Book reviews

Modern Iran: The Dialectics of Continuity and Change. Edited by Michael E. Bonine and Nikki R. Keddie. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. x, 464 pp. $34.00.

IRANIAN SOCIETY. An Anthology of Writings by Jalal Al‐e Ahmad. Compiled and Edited by Michael C. Hillmann. Lexington, Kentucky: Mazda Publishers, 1982. 157 pp.

Modern Persian Short Stories. Trans. Minoo S. Southgate. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1980. xvi + 228 pp.

Moderne Erzähler der Welt—Iran (Modern Storytellers of the World—Iran). Selected and edited by Faramarz Behzad, Johann Christoph Burgel, Gottfried Herrmann. Volume LVII Series on Cultural Encounters of the Institute for Foreign Relations, Stuttgart. Tubingen and Basel: Horst Erdmann Publishers for International Cultural Exchange, 1978.

La poésie persane après la seconde guerre mondiale. By Franciszek Machalski. Krakow: Polish Academy of Sciences, 1980. 133 pp.

Ja‐ye Khali‐ye Soluch. By Mahmud Dowlatabadi. Tehran: Agah, 1979. 497 pp.

History of Persian Literature from the Beginning of the Islamic Period to the Present Day. With contributions by George Morrison, Julian Baldick, and (Mohammad Reza) Sha‐fi'i Kadkani. Edited by George Morrison. Leiden‐Koln: E. J. Brill, 1981. 226 pp.     

L'expérience des nombres de Bernard Frenicle de Bessy

Through the discussion of a problem posed around 1639 by Bernard Frenicle de Bessy, its solution and the replies of his correspondents, we shall describe several overlapping registers of Frenicle's exprience: an experimentation on numbers partly borrowed from the natural sciences, the demands of a collective practice cemented together by problems and their explicit construction, a personal training in attention and savoir-faire. All these come together in Frenicle's efforts to contest the supremacy of algebraic analysis and in the modes of conviction which are at the base of his work. In return, this account of a mathematical and collective experiment allows us to appreciate the difficulties for Frenicle in transmitting his results and for his historians in reconstructing his activity.     

An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening

This report presents results of a study examining the ancient use of plants at four Late Classic (CE 600-900) Maya rural farmsteads in northwestern Belize. Our research specifically targeted residential middens for macrobotanical recovery. Samples yielded the remains of more than a dozen plant families, representing some genera that do not currently grow in the area. These plants were used in the Late Classic, countering the idea that ancient botanical remains do not survive in Neotropical archaeological contexts. We also evaluated two macrobotanical sample processing methods vis-à-vis one another: flotation and dry screening. Our results indicate that flotation recovered 58% more seeds than dry screening, while dry screening yielded almost twice as much charcoal and other wood as flotation. The divergent quantities in the types of material recovered suggest a comprehensive macrobotanical recovery program should include the use of both processing methods.     

Reviews

Populism and Feminism in Iran: Women's Struggle in a Male‐Defined Revolutionary Movement ,Haideh Moghissi, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994, 217 pp., $59.95.

La Beauté menacée: anthropologie des maladies de la peau en Iran , Niloufar Jozani, Tehran: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran, 1994, 317 pp., illustrations, tables, Bibliography, Index.

Iranian Cities: Formation and Development ,Masoud Kheirabadi, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991, xiv + 132 pp., illustrations, glossary, and appendixes.

Faith and Freedom ,ed. Mahnaz Afkhami, Syracuse: Syracuse Univ. Press, 1995.

Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan ,Patricia Berger and Terese Tse Bartholomew, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995, 340 pp., 310 illustrations, 237 in color, $60.00.

Mongol Jewelry ,Martha Boyer, Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995, 278 pp., 200 illustrations, 90 in color, $50.00.

Frühe iranische Moscheen vom Beginn des Islam bis zur Zeit sal?ūqischer Herrschaft ,Barbara Finster [Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Tehran: Archäologische Mitteliungen aus Iran, Erganzungsband 19] Berlin: Dietrich Riemer, 1994, 319 pp., 1 map, 149 figures, 48 plates, Bibliography, Index.

Khomeini's Forgotten Sons: The Story of Iran's Boy Soldiers ,Ian Brown, London: Grey Seal Books, 1990, viii + 190 pp.

Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass ,Leonardo Alishan, New York: Ashod Press, 1991, xvi + 77 pp., $7.50.

Persico‐Kurdica: Études d'ethnomusicologie, de dialectologie, d'histoire et de religion (parues dans les années 1964–1978), Mohammad Mokri, Louvain: Peeters, 1995, lv + 505 pp.

Padyavand ,ed. Amnon Netzer, Judeo‐Iranian and Jewish Studies Series, vol. 1, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1996, xxvi + 143 English + 367 Persian.

The Throne Carrier of God: The Life and Thought of ‘Ala'; ad‐Dawla as‐Simnani ,Jamal J. Elias, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, xvi + 255 pp., $ 16.95.

The History of al‐Tabari ,vol. XXXIII: Storm and Stress along the Northern Frontiers of the ^cAbbasid Caliphate ,trans, and annot. C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies and Bibliotheca Persica, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy ,Daniel Pipes, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996, xii + 404 pp.

The History of al‐Tabari , vol. XII: The Battle of al‐Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine , trans. Yohanan Friedmann, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, xxii + 237 pp.

La Region d'Arak et de Hamadan: cartes et documents ethnographiques , Hélène Desmet‐Gregoire and Patrice Fontaine, with the collaboration of Mohammad ^cAli Ahmadian and Abolqasem Taheri, Studia Iranica, Cahier 6, association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, Leuven: Teeters, 1988.

Myth and Mobilization in Revolutionary Iran: The Use of the Friday Congregational Sermon , Haggay Ram, Washington, D.C.: The American University Press, 1994, xiii + 250 pp., $59.00 cloth.     

Pastoral Neolithic Settlement at Luxmanda,Tanzania

The later Holocene spread of pastoralism throughout eastern Africa profoundly changed socio-economic and natural landscapes. During the Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 5000–1200 B.P.), herders spread through southern Kenya and northern Tanzania—areas previously occupied only by hunter-gatherers—eventually developing the specialized forms of pastoralism that remain vital in this region today. Research on ancient pastoralism has been primarily restricted to rockshelters and special purpose sites. This paper presents results of surveys and excavations at Luxmanda, an open-air habitation site located farther south in Tanzania, and occupied many centuries earlier, than previously expected based upon prior models for the spread of herding. Technological and subsistence patterns demonstrate ties to northerly sites, suggesting that Luxmanda formed part of a network of early herders. The site is thus unlikely to stand alone, and further surveys are recommended to better understand the spread of herding into the region, and ultimately to southern Africa.     

Framed Memories: The Politics of Recollection in Mana Neyestani’s An Iranian Metamorphosis

This essay examines the graphic memoir An Iranian Metamorphosis, by the acclaimed cartoonist Mana Neyestani, in the context of Iranian diaspora literature, particularly the genre of comics. Neyestani’s book is analyzed for its engagement with the politics of exile literature, and its attempt at challenging a two-dimensional view of the political discourse, in which the ethical boundaries of pro- and anti-government are overtly simple. The essay focuses on the book’s narrative techniques that exhibit a complex awareness of what is anticipated from a representative work of Iranian exile memoir, and the way it negotiates its own narrative politics. To clarify the arguments, several comparative examples are drawn from two well-known graphic narratives by Iranian diaspora authors, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, and Amir and Khalil’s Zahra’s Paradise.