This course assumes no prior knowledge of the language and begins with the teaching of the Persian alphabet. Grammar and vocabulary are covered in full and the course places equal emphasis on reading, writing and speaking.

Although Persian is one of the world's oldest languages, in its modern form it is still spoken by more than forty million people in Iran and by more than twenty million people elsewhere. These volumes provide students from beginning to intermediate levels with a mastery of modern Persian (also known as farsi) and with an understanding of colloquial Persian. The books offer extended vocabulary, grammar, and essays on aspects of Iranian culture. Volume I emphasizes speaking and understanding, and Volume 2 focuses on the written language. The first to teach Persian as a living language, Modern Persian incorporates the most effective methodologies and the most recent cultural and linguistic changes occurring in Iran.

Do you want to be able to listen to, speak, read and write Modern Persian (Farsi) confidently? Do you want the convenience of being able to learn at home or on the move? Whether you are starting from scratch, or are just out of practice, Teach Yourself Complete Modern Persian (Farsi) – Touch & Listen will guarantee success! Touch & Listen ebooks are a groundbreaking new approach to language learning that include recordings of pronunciation and conversations within the pages of the books themselves – right where you need them. In the past you used to have to juggle separate books and CDs/MP3s to master listening, speaking, reading and writing. Not anymore. Thanks to the latest enhanced ebook technology, you can learn and practise all four language skills plus grammar and vocabulary from a single ebook that you can read and listen to on your tablet device or smartphone. First, touch the on-screen play buttons and listen to native speakers conversing on scores of current topics. Then rewind. Or pause. Whatever you need to do to make sure you’ve fully understood what you have just listened to. When you are ready, complete the activities with the convenient notes feature. You are in control. It’s that simple. STRUCTURE The course is structured in thematic units based on real-life situations and with an emphasis on communication, so that you effortlessly progress from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations, to using the phone and talking about work. NOT MUCH TIME? Get started with a 1-minute introduction to the key principles of the language. GRAMMAR Follow easy-to-manage steps to give you a clear understanding of the language. VOCABULARY Use clearly marked lists to make it easy to find and review the most useful vocabulary. DIALOGUES Touch & Listen to everyday dialogues to help you speak and understand fast. PRONUNCIATION Don't sound like a tourist! Perfect your pronunciation before you travel. INSIGHTS Look out for lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author’s many years of teaching experience. FEATURES Make full use of the wealth of convenient ebook features, including highlighting, making notes and a built-in dictionary. PROGRESS Rise to Level B1 of the Common European Framework for Languages: Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions. TEST YOURSELF Use the unit tests to keep track of your progress. Teach Yourself Complete Modern Persian (Farsi) Enjoy the familiarity of a book with the convenience of Touch & Listen technology at home or on the move, and let Teach Yourself and its highly experienced authors guide you every step of the way.

With the unleashing of the "War on Terror" in the aftermath of 9/11, Afghanistan has become prominent in the news. However, we need to appreciate that no substantive understanding of contemporary history, politics and society of this country can be achieved without a thorough analysis of the Afghan encounter with cultural and literary modernity and modernization. Modern Persian Literature in Afghanistan does just that. The book offers a balanced and interdisciplinary analysis of the rich and admirable contemporary poetry and fiction of a land long tormented by wars and invasions. It sets out to demonstrate that, within the trajectory of the union between modern aesthetic imagination and politics, creativity and production, and representation and history, the modernist intervention enabled many contemporary poets and writers of fiction to resist the overt politicization of the literary field, without evading politics or disavowing the modern state. The interpretative moves and nuanced readings of a series of literary texts make this book a major contribution to a rather neglected area of research and study. Winner of the Iranian World Prize for Book of the Year in Islamics Studies 2009

The Persian Mirror explores France's preoccupation with Persia in the seventeenth century. Long before Montesquieu's Persian Letters, French intellectuals, diplomats and even ordinary Parisians were fascinated by Persia and eagerly consumed travel accounts, fairy tales, and the spectacle of the Persian ambassador's visit to Paris and Versailles in 1715. Using diplomatic sources, fiction and printed and painted images, The Persian Mirror describes how the French came to see themselves in Safavid Persia. In doing so, it revises our notions of orientalism and the exotic and suggests that early modern Europeans had more nuanced responses to Asia than previously imagined.

In recent years, Iran has gained attention mostly for negative reasons—its authoritarian religious government, disputed nuclear program, and controversial role in the Middle East—but there is much more to the story of this ancient land than can be gleaned from the news. This authoritative and comprehensive history of Iran, written by Homa Katouzian, an acclaimed expert, covers the entire history of the area from the ancient Persian Empire to today’s Iranian state. Writing from an Iranian rather than a European perspective, Katouzian integrates the significant cultural and literary history of Iran with its political and social history. Some of the greatest poets of human history wrote in Persian—among them Rumi, Omar Khayyam, and Saadi—and Katouzian discusses and occasionally quotes their work. In his thoughtful analysis of Iranian society, Katouzian argues that the absolute and arbitrary power traditionally enjoyed by Persian/Iranian rulers has resulted in an unstable society where fear and short-term thinking dominate. A magisterial history, this book also serves as an excellent background to the role of Iran in the contemporary world.

Humanism has mostly considered the question “What does it mean to be human?” from a Western perspective. Dabashi asks it anew from a non-European perspective, in a groundbreaking study of 1,400 years of Persian literary humanism. He presents the unfolding of this vast tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization.