TBA Book Club: Titan of Tehran by Shahrzad Elghanayan
April 22 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
We will meet on Wednesday, April 22, viaZoom, to discuss the nonfiction book, Titan of Tehran: FromJewish Ghetto to Corporate Colossus to Firing Squad – My Grandfather’s Life, by ShahrzadElghanayan. Thebook is 287 pages, and was published in 2021. There are three copies availablethrough Link+: https://csul.iii.com/search?/XTitan+of+Tehran&SORT=DZ/XTitan+of+Tehran&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=Titan+of+Tehran/1,4,4,B/detlframeset&FF=XTitan+of+Tehran&1,1,;two of those three copies are housed in the San Francisco libraries, in caseyou have a membership there. The book is in audio format, available throughHoopla. The book is for purchase, and it there is a Kindle edition. Hopefully,we will stagger our reading, so that everyone who wants to take take it out ofthe library will be able to do so.
FromAmazon:
“Titanof Tehran,” a richly reported and elegantly rendered story, presents acompelling central character, historic sweep and moments that read likechapters in a thriller. The titan is Habib Elghanian – a self-madeindustrialist and the foremost Jew of his time in Iran, whom the Islamictheocracy targeted as the first civilian executed during the 1979 revolution.With Iran continuing to generate front-page news, his previously untold storyis painfully relevant, shedding light on that country’s persistent economic,political and social problems. “Titan of Tehran” brings that great, ancient,now-compromised nation into fresh and accessible focus.
The odysseyof Elghanian’s life and death is told by his granddaughter in an understatedstyle that nonetheless makes clear her powerful stake and personal place in theunfolding drama. Exploring universal themes of loss and longing, belonging and identity,she reconstructs and chronicles his ascent from Tehran’s Jewish quarter – “theedge of the pit” – to his business success that was instrumental in modernizingthe country to fatefully facing a firing squad.
“Titan ofTehran” serves as a monument to a man who might have disappeared in the mistsof history, even though his execution was reported worldwide on newspaper frontpages and in broadcast news reports. In his homeland, Elghanian wasmisrepresented, mistreated, maligned and murdered – but now won’t be forgotten.He is a riveting character whom readers will keep in their hearts – a titan,yes, but deeply, sadly, delightfully human, too.
Below are linksto three reviews of the book:
https://haam.org/book-review-the-titan-of-tehran-by-shahrzad-elghanyan/
If you want evenmore information, there are several videos on YouTube regarding the book, aswell.
