Searching for Hassan
An American Family's Journey Home to Iran

By Terence Ward
Houghton Mifflin, $25
ISBN 0618048448

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Discovering another side of Iran

In 1997, when American Terence Ward, his three brothers and their parents returned to Iran after a long absence to search for their beloved former housekeeper, cook and "Persian father" Hassan Ghasemi, the country they re-discovered was dramatically changed from the one they left in the 1960s. The Shah was no longer in power, and the oil reserves he had given away to the British had been nationalized. The stark poverty and crippling corruption that highlighted the Shah's reign had been replaced by a higher, more equitable standard of living. Even the strict theocracy imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1979 Islamic Revolution was softening under the leadership of the democratically elected President Mohammad Khatami.

In his new book, Searching for Hassan, Ward -- a management consultant in the Islamic world -- and his family are largely left alone to travel the countryside and explore the rich treasures of Iranian culture. They arrived with many advantages, including a working command of Farsi, expert drivers and guides, a sympathetic understanding of life in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, and the author's own scholarly knowledge of Iranian culture. Ward's knowledge elevates the book from a simple memoir to a rare behind-the-veil account of modern-day Iran, a country with as rich a culture as any on earth. With each step toward the eventual emotional reunion with Hassan and his family, Ward -- a child when he left Iran -- is confronted by the sensory triggers of sights, sounds and smells. He remembers holding Hassan's hand during magical trips to the local bazaar: "Shafts of light shoot through the overhead mesh, slowly streaked by blue smoke and dust. Inside this labyrinth shiny porcelain tea sets, copperbright trays, intoxicating perfumes, stacked rolls of textiles, Persian figs, mulberries, apricots, persimmons."

Searching for Hassan could not come at a better time and should be required reading for U.S. foreign policy makers. The type of people-to-people contact between the Wards and the Ghasemis can only lead to a better understanding of this troubled and often misunderstood part of the world. Insha'allah: God willing.

Stephen J. Lyons writes from Monticello, Illinois.