Historical Dictionary of Iran (2nd ed.)

I have written this review in conjunction with an acquaintance who encapsulates some of the problems of that lovely country. He is a Christian, from a sect which was an organized religious community long before the establishment of anything remotely resembling the Catholic Church, in a land which, within living memory, held the largest Christian population in the Middle East and the largest Jewish population outside Israel as well. As an asylum seeker in England he does not wish to give his full name lest it harm relatives still hanging on at home, but his first name is Ardeshir –...