Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

“…In a country where half the population is illiterate, you can not unite the people around Marx. The only thing that can really unite them is nationalism or a religious ethic…”

We can always read newspapers, watch the television, skim through online sources and conduct researches to learn further about a certain political event; however, none of these would be as interesting and as insightful as reading the ideas and memories of a person who has experienced the political event first-hand. To me, the human side of history has always had so much more meaning. Persepolis is a comic book which depicts the author Marjane Satrapi’s childhood up to her teenage years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution (which evokes one of Stalin-like purges). What makes this book remarkable is that the story is told through the eyes of a child, so after reading this book the dull “facts” that you would generally come across in newspapers gained a vibrance and color for me. The book deals with themes such as, but not limited to, nationalism, childhood innocence, change, social class, education, oppression, gender, war, religion and ethics. I could connect to it on so many levels.