For the sun after long nights The story of Iran's women-led uprising

Journalists Jamalpour and Tabrizy debut with a propulsive account of the 2022 Iranian uprising. The book's alternating first-person narratives are drawn from letters the authors wrote to each other during the protests--Jamalpour, based in Tehran, delivers an on-the-ground report, while Tabrizy offers analysis from abroad. Together they frame the moment as one of exuberant defiance: "We will not bow down" vows the uncle of the slain woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, whose death in the custody of the morality police--after her arrest for "not dressing appropriately"--triggered the mass movement. The protestors, many of them teens, face down tear gas, rubber bullets, arrests, and executions. Particularly poignant is how deeply poetry is interwoven into the movement, from protestors passing each other uplifting notes--"hand in hand we become the sea" reads one passed to Jamalpour--to pop singers releasing anti-government ballads: "For my sister, your sister and our sisters, for the changing of rotted minds," sang one 25-year-old performer sentenced to a nearly four-year prison term. The authors offer captivating insight into the historical role women have played in Iranian politics and critique Western depictions of the Shah's reign as more liberating for women, noting that his policy of forced unveiling pushed religious women into the shadows. As the narrative builds, Jamalpour and Tabrizy present the country as caught in a vice-like trap between the regime at home and Western hostility abroad. It's a gripping view of a nation at a crossroads. (Sept.)

Two Iranian journalists chronicle protests against Iran's oppressive Islamic Republic, and the regime's repressive reaction. Jamalpour's and Tabrizy's primary lens is the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, which sprang up forcefully following the 2022 killing of Mahsa Jîna Amini by Tehran's morality police for her refusal to wear a hijab. While Iran's decades-long transition from monarchy to democracy to theocratic autocracy has led to numerous revolutionary efforts and calls for reform, this movement has been notable in its widespread multiethnic support and engagement of Gen Z. In this collaboration, the authors bear witness to atrocities that have been pitifully underreported, oversimplified, and misunderstood by international media, and they situate the demands of the "sixth generation of Iranian feminists" within the longer tradition of activism in their country. Jamalpour reports firsthand from the streets of Tehran, cataloging daily protest gatherings along with the humiliations, detainments, and arrests of her and her fellow protestors. Tabrizy's coverage comes from the offices of theNew York Times andWashington Post, where she is determined to counter disinformation in, from, and about her homeland. Jamalpour's nail-biting account of her protest attendance--told in straightforward prose--weaves with Jamalpour's efforts to verify visuals and collect testimony from Tabrizy's physically safe but emotionally fraught position within the diaspora. Both authors demonstrate deep love for their country and its diverse makeup and shed light on the tug of war between cultural expansion and contraction that has defined turbulent years of political conflict and economic desperation. Their respect for the nature and power of journalism in situations of conflict and oppression strengthens their storytelling resolve. In a project undertaken at great personal risk, the authors' compiled historical context, frank personal reflection, and conscientious recordkeeping constitute a critically important "first rough draft" of a significant moment being ignored in real time. Personally driven, historically necessary, and politically salient. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.