‘Fereydun Vahman’s book 175 Years of Persecution provides, in accessible narrative vignettes, a sweeping account of the persecution of Iran’s Bahá'í community. Many articles and reports have documented the persecutions, but usually focusing on a chronologically and geographically confined space, often with a clinical approach. However, like Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on the genocidal campaign against Native Americans, or James Allen’s Without Sanctuary, a visual history of lynching in the American south, here we have a work that brings the human impact to the fore. Vahman weaves together a larger story from individual, mob, or state-sponsored acts of murder, arson, gravesite desecration, imprisonment, dismissal from jobs, deprivation of pensions and education, etc. In clear and readable prose suitable for students, activists, and the general public, this book memorably describes the beleaguerment of the Bahá'í community in Iran since its inception and makes it clear why the situation of Bahá'ís has been described as a bellwether of the prospects for true political rights and civil society for the entire Iranian polity.’
-- Franklin Lewis, Associate Professor of Persian Language & Literature, University of Chicago