Sketches of Persia
by Sir John Malcolm
Sir John Malcolm is famous for being the first English-language historian of Iran. He was a diplomat in the 19th century. In this book he writes an account of his mission in Iran littered with interviews, little case-study examples of how Iranian society and politics works. And it is full of wonderful gems of information about Iran, its people, its literature, its language, its place in the world and the way in which the Europeans encountered it.
