Overview

Tehran, June 12, 2009. Mohsen Abbaspour, an ordinary young man in his twenties--not particularly political, or ambitious, or worldly--casts the first vote of his life in Iran's tenth presidential election. Fed up with rising unemployment and inflation, he backs the reformist party and its candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Mohsen believes his vote will count. It will not. Almost the instant the polls close, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will declare himself president by an overwhelming majority. And as the Western world scrambles to make sense of the brazenly fraudulent election, Mohsen, along with his friends and family and neighbors, will experience a sense of utter desolation, and then something else: an increasingly sharper feeling--the beginning of anger. In a matter of weeks, millions of Iranians will flow into the streets, chanting in protest, ""Death to the dictator!"" Mohsen Abbaspour will be swept up in an uncontrollable and ultimately devastating chain of events. Like Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families and Ryszard Kapuscinski's incisive reportage, Death to the Dictator! stuns listeners with its heartbreaking immediacy. Our pseudonymous author was a keen eyewitness in Tehran during the summer of 2009 and beyond. In this brave and true book, we see what we are not supposed to see and learn what we are not supposed to know.

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9798200106608

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Reviews

"[A] moving, brutal account.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""[A] moving, brutal account of Iranian protests against the 2009 reelection of President Ahmadinejad...A clear and important record of the human toll imposed by one dirty election and a close look at a national injustice that captivated the world."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""[A] timely, ambitious and moving account...The power and immediacy of Death to the Dictator!, the modern sequel to Ryszard Kapuscinski's Shah of Shahs, come from these crucial moments when Iranians decide whether to abandon hope or ultimately risk their lives...Moqadam writes with an authoritative, granular understanding of Iranian society, especially the sociology of its urban youth. The author distills important political context and frictions of class, faith and worldview into lean vignettes."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""This is a disturbing and problematic book because not all the story can be told even a year after the events it recalls. All the names and many of the details have had to be changed, because the torture and sexual violence that sustains the Iranian regime continues, and most of its victims are still trapped inside their homeland...Death to the Dictator! is an extraordinary account of how a revolution must feel on the inside as it gathers force, and is then mercilessly snuffed out."" -- ""Sunday Times (UK)"""

[A] moving, brutal account.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""[A] moving, brutal account of Iranian protests against the 2009 reelection of President Ahmadinejad...A clear and important record of the human toll imposed by one dirty election and a close look at a national injustice that captivated the world."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""[A] timely, ambitious and moving account...The power and immediacy of Death to the Dictator!, the modern sequel to Ryszard Kapuscinski's Shah of Shahs, come from these crucial moments when Iranians decide whether to abandon hope or ultimately risk their lives...Moqadam writes with an authoritative, granular understanding of Iranian society, especially the sociology of its urban youth. The author distills important political context and frictions of class, faith and worldview into lean vignettes."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""This is a disturbing and problematic book because not all the story can be told even a year after the events it recalls. All the names and many of the details have had to be changed, because the torture and sexual violence that sustains the Iranian regime continues, and most of its victims are still trapped inside their homeland...Death to the Dictator! is an extraordinary account of how a revolution must feel on the inside as it gathers force, and is then mercilessly snuffed out."" -- ""Sunday Times (UK)""

Author Information

Afsaneh Moqadam is the pseudonym of the author of Death to the Dictator! It has been adopted to protect the identity of the author, who witnessed and participated in many of the events described in the book. Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a ""Golden Voice"" by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine. Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a ""Golden Voice"" by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.

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