Book of queens : the true story of the Middle Eastern horsewomen who fought the War on Terror / Pardis Mahdavi.
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Available copies
- 0 of 1 copy available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
- 0 of 1 copy available at Northwest Regional Library. (Show preferred library)
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0 current holds with 1 total copy.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief River Falls Public Library | 636.1109 MAH (Text) | 35500006704660 | New | Checked out | 10/05/2023 |
Record details
- ISBN: 9780306832130
- ISBN: 0306832135
- Physical Description: xiv, 285 pages; 24 cm
- Publisher: New York : Hachette Books, 2023.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| Summary, etc.: | "Book of Queens reaches back centuries to the Persian Empire and a woman disguised as a man, facing an invading army, protected only by light armor and the stallion she sat astride. Mahdavi draws a thread from past to present: from her fearless Iranian grandmother, who guided survivors of domestic violence to independent mountain colonies in Afghanistan where the women, led by a general named Mina, became their country's first line of defense from marauding warlords. To the female warriors who helped train and breed the horses used by US Green Berets when they touched down in October 2001, with a mission but insufficient intelligence on the ground-women whose contributions were then forgotten. Pardis Mahdavi chases the legacy of Caspian horses and the women whose lives are saved by them, drawing on decades of research, newly-discovered diaries, and exclusive military sources. Among those intersecting stories is that of American Louise Firouz, who helped bring the breed back from the brink of extinction, connecting Virginia traders to British royals to the son of the Shah. Firouz's life is forever changed when she meets Mahdavi's own family, who run an unusual smuggling operation in addition to raising horses in a wild bid for freedom. Book of Queens is an epic tale of hidden women whose communal knowledge was instrumental in saving an animal as ancient as civilization, and who were the genesis of their own liberation"-- Provided by publisher. |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 August #1
This sweeping narrative is part memoir, part history, and part adventure tale that takes the reader through generations of Iranian women who became fearless horse warriors and who saved the oldest breed of horse from extinction. In 1925, Mahdavi's grandmother Maryam finds rare, small horses whose lineage goes back to ancient Persia. As she breeds the Caspians, she begins to smuggle abused Iranian women into Afghanistan, where they join women's colonies of horse warriors who battle male warlords and the Taliban. Through the turbulent 1970s, American Louise Firouz and Maryam continue smuggling abused women, Caspians, and supplies to the Afghan women who are at war with the Taliban. In 2001, it is these Afghan women who train the Green Berets to fight the Taliban by using the remarkable little horses. Mahdavi's narrative style immerses the reader into a forgotten world that highlights the strength and courage of women in Middle Eastern history while showing how they saved the oldest breed of horse. Readers interested in women's history or horses will be fascinated by this book. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
Pardis Mahdavi, PhD is President of the University of La Verne. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been a fellow at the Social Sciences Research Council, the American Council on Learned Societies, Google Ideas, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Dr. Mahdavi's career began as a journalist, writing for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She continues to write for Foreign Affairs, Huffington Post, The Conversation, as well as Ms. Magazine. Her work has been featured in her academic books as well as numerous public opinion and policy pieces.
Dr. Mahdavi has published four single authored books and one edited volume in addition to numerous journal and news articles. She is the author of Passionate Uprisings: Iranâs Sexual Revolution, as well as multiple essays on the significance of sexual politics in the Arab Spring and Green Movement across the Middle East. More recently, her work on sexual politics has been featured in The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Zocalo, the Denver Post, as well as Facebook Watch.
