DescriptionIn 1927, Iran developed a legal code doing away with gruesome Islamic punishments such as stoning and lashing. That all changed during the Islamic revolution of 1979. NPR Producer Davar Ardalan and co-producer Rasool Nafisi look at Iran's long search for a lawful society. Producers: Davar Ardalan and Rasool Nafisi Editor: Deborah George Coordinating Producer: Sasha Aslanian Project Coordinator: Misha Quill Mixing: Bill McQuay, Vincent Muse, Tom Mudge, and Craig Thorsen Production Assistance: Andy Lyman, Jim Lesher, and Ellen Guettler Host: Deborah Amos Web Producers: Ochen Kaylan and Paul Schomer Managing Editor: Stephen Smith Executive Producer: Bill Buzenberg Major funding for American RadioWorks® comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. American RadioWorks is the national documentary unit of American Public Media.
DescriptionIt is the year 2007, and the Chinese are poised to challenge America's superiority on the open sea and upset the delicate balance of oil power in the Middle East and the free passage of the world's giant tankers. The Chinese Navy, in partnership with Iran, has laid a minefield clean across the Strait of Hormuz, holding the world's oil supply hostage. Mystified by China's motive, yet drawn to action, the United States moves to disarm the mines with a huge display of force. At the center of the mission is USS Shark, a 30-year-old nuclear boat on her final tour of duty. When confronted with the unexpected death of brave SEALs, the unimaginable happens: the first mutiny in the modern history of the United States Navy.
DescriptionWhen the U.S. Air Force decided to create an elite "special tactics" team in the late 1970s to work with special-operations forces, John T. Carney was the man they turned to. Since then Carney and the U.S. Air Force Special Tactical units have circled the world on clandestine missions. They have combated terrorists and overthrown dangerous dictators. They have suffered 18 times the casualty rate of America's conventional forces. But they have gotten the job done. Now, for the first time, Colonel Carney lifts the veil of secrecy and reveals what really goes on inside the special-operations forces that are at the forefront of contemporary warfare.
DescriptionAt a time when America debates its values and the world braces for religious war, Bruce Feiler, author of the New York Times best sellers Walking the Bible and Abraham, travels ten thousand miles through the Middle East to examine the…
DescriptionIsolated and far from his native Iran, Ushman Khan has worked hard to build a wealthy, reliable clientele for his wares: exquisite hand-woven rugs from his home city of Tabriz. With perfect rectitude, he caters to clients like New York's Upper East Side g…
DescriptionFor two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven young women at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were all former students whom she had taught at university. Some came from co…
DescriptionHalf a century ago, the United States overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, whose "crime" was nationalizing the country's oil industry. In a cloak-and-dagger story of spies, saboteurs, and secret agents, Kinzer reveals the involvement of Eisenhower, Churchill, Kermit Roosevelt, and the CIA in Operation Ajax, which restored Mohammad Reza Shah to power. Reza imposed a tyranny that ultimately sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979 which, in turn, inspired fundamentalists throughout the Muslim world, including the Taliban and terrorists who thrived under its protection. "It is not far-fetched, " Kinzer asserts, "to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."…
