The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran

by Masih Alinejad

Overview

An extraordinary memoir from an Iranian journalist in exile about leaving her country, challenging tradition and sparking an online movement against compulsory hijab.

A photo on Masih's Facebook page: a woman standing proudly, face bare, hair blowing in the wind. Her crime: removing her veil, or hijab, which is compulsory for women in Iran. This is the self-portrait that sparked 'My Stealthy Freedom,' a social media campaign that went viral.

But Masih is so much more than the arresting face that sparked a campaign inspiring women to find their voices. She's also a world-class journalist whose personal story, told in her unforgettably bold and spirited voice, is emotional and inspiring. She grew up in a traditional village where her mother, a tailor and respected figure in the community, was the exception to the rule in a culture where women reside in their husbands' shadows.

As a teenager, Masih was arrested for political activism and was surprised to discover she was pregnant while in police custody. When she was released, she married quickly and followed her young husband to Tehran where she was later served divorce papers to the shame and embarrassment of her religiously conservative family. Masih spent nine years struggling to regain custody of her beloved only son and was forced into exile, leaving her homeland and her heritage. Following Donald Trump's notorious immigration ban, Masih found herself separated from her child, who lives abroad, once again.

A testament to a spirit that remains unbroken, and an enlightening, intimate invitation into a world we don't know nearly enough about, The Wind in My Hair is the extraordinary memoir of a woman who overcame enormous adversity to fight for what she believes in, and to encourage others to do the same.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316548915
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	05/29/2018
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	102,482
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Masoumeh (Masih) Alinejad-Ghomi was born in 1976 in Ghomikola, Babol. She is an award-winning Iranian journalist, broadcaster, blogger and founder of the My Stealthy Freedom movement. A 2011 graduate of Oxford Brookes University, Alinejad currently reports and presents a weekly TV segment on VOA, called Tablet, where she mixes hard news and satire. Masih has been published in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including Huffington Post, Time magazine and the Washington Post. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Told poignantly and with a blunt honesty that seems a characteristic of Alinejad's life and writing, here is a gripping tale that permits us to peek at the inner workings of the Iranian Revolution and consider the question of its health and longevity…The Wind in My Hair exposes just how vexing it is to disentangle the veil from the context in which it is worn and thus to wage a transnational fight either for its permissibility or its elimination.

The New York Times Book Review - Rafia Zakaria

01/15/2018
In this intense memoir, Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and women’s rights advocate, writes about her life of resistance in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Alinejad chronicles her teenage years in a rural village in the 1990s, pulling pranks as a kind of rebellion against the supreme leader (in a high school Quran-reading competition, she recited an epic poem by Ahmad Shamlou in Persian); as an adult, she became a prominent, globally recognized advocate for women’s rights in Iran. Although she had no college degree, Alinejad became a journalist, and her first significant role as a reporter was covering the Majlis (Iranian parliament), including Mohammad Khatamis’s reelection to president in 2001. Later, she would become a scathing critic of Ahmadinejad’s presidency, publishing a series of damning articles in her column “The Government of Denial” for the National Trust newspaper. Forced into exile in Britain, Alinejad launched My Stealthy Freedom—a Facebook page where women who rejected the compulsory hijab posted pictures of themselves without the head scarf. Women all over Iran risked imprisonment and even their lives and safety to post pictures. Alinejad’s stories of her illustrious career as a groundbreaking journalist challenging the Islamic Republic make for a fascinating narrative. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Told poignantly and with a blunt honesty that seems a characteristic of Alinejad's life and writing, here is a gripping tale that permits us to peek at the inner workings of the Iranian Revolution and consider the question of its health and longevity."—New York Times Book Review

""The Wind in My Hair"... paints a vivid portrait of modern Iran...The book comes at a time of renewed energy within the feminist movement, and Ms. Alinejad believes that the book's themes transcend borders."—New York Times

"Alinejad's experiences make for a compelling and eye-opening read."—Christian Science Monitor

"Women all over Iran risked imprisonment and even their lives and safety to post pictures. Alinejad's stories of her illustrious career as a groundbreaking journalist challenging the Islamic Republic make for a fascinating narrative."—Publisher's Weekly

"[Masih's] descriptions of life as a journalist and activist will captivate readers interested in Iran, international affairs, gender equality, and human rights."—Booklist

"Alinejad's account provides a timely glimpse behind the Iranian curtain."—Kirkus

"Masih Alinejad is a fearless champion for women's rights. She built her career as a reporter uncovering powerful truths and writing passionately in support of human rights in a country where doing so meant risking one's freedom and safety. Her book is a must-read for anyone who cares about women's equality and autonomy-in Iran, the United States, and everywhere."—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebookand Founder of LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org

"Masih Alinejad's personal story is intriguing and inspiring. For her freedom is not just political but existential, which is why Masih's voice is so important to Iran's civil society and the Iranian people's struggles for freedom and democracy."—Azar Nafisi, authorof Reading Lolita in Tehran and The Republic of Imagination

"With mighty righteousness on her side and bravery in her heart, Masih Alinejad is a flame-thrower for the rights of all women who live under the thumb of repression and injustice."—Tina Brown, author of The Vanity Fair Diaries

"Masih Alinejad's inspiring journey from an ordinary working-class village girl in Iran into a transnational activist-journalist is a testimony to not only her talents and passionate dedication to equal rights, but also to the aspiration and determination of many Iranian women whose stories are recounted by her. Masih's courageous journey is part of a growing women's rights movement that resonates with women everywhere."—Nayereh Tohidi,Director, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State, Northridge

From the Publisher

2018-03-19
Pointed memoir by an Iranian journalist who has been a longtime advocate of women's rights in the Islamic republic.Alinejad, who has largely lived in exile for years, was born in a village in northern Iran. "I couldn't imagine a better place anywhere else in the world," she writes of her hometown. Born two years before the ouster of the shah, the author never knew the relative freedoms women enjoyed in Iran before the revolution in a state so secular that a law was passed forbidding women from wearing the hijab. "If I was alive then," she writes, "I'd have opposed it not because I believe in the hijab but because I believe in freedom of choice." Such belief drew Alinejad away from her quiet home and into significant events, and she became a news reporter. "The road to expulsion is paved with scoops," she writes. It's the content of those scoops, along with the graft and corruption underlying a regime that is still made up of politicians, that will be of interest to readers, certainly much more than the mundane details of her life and rote observations such as, "I'd always wanted my life to be impactful." Driven from her country, Alinejad became a vocal and highly visible critic of the Ahmadinejad regime—but more, of the entire theocracy, which put her at odds with other members of the opposition: "The reformists didn't want to overthrow the whole regime. They just didn't like Ahmadinejad." Even more visibly, she went on to found a movement against the compulsory wearing of the hijab, which encountered its own difficulties when Western women and men who might have been allies were reluctant to criticize Iran for fear of being labeled as bigots. "I realized," she writes, "I was fighting both Trump's Islamophobia and the Islamic Republic of Iran's misogynist policies."Alinejad's account provides a timely glimpse behind the Iranian curtain.

Kirkus Reviews

04/01/2018
Iranian journalist and activist Alinejad's memoir begins with her childhood in a rural, poor, and conservative village and continues through her emerging political involvement, which leads to marriage, a pregnancy, and eventually her arrest. After months in prison, Alinejad moves to Tehran with her husband and launches a career in journalism covering Parliament and challenging the regime. However, her increasing activism leads to a divorce and then self-imposed exile in London and New York, where she gains recognition for reporting on human rights, greater freedoms for women, and political repression under the Iranian theocracy. Alinejad's professional development includes a glamorous courtship with another Iranian exile, a move to Brooklyn, and international visibility centered on her "My Stealthy Freedom" campaign, insisting that women have the right to choose whether to wear the hijab. Her fast-paced account is richly informative and absorbing, though without much attention to style or craft. VERDICT Alinejad's journey both within and outside of Iran depicts her resilience and determination to lead a full life amid an often repressive society. For all readers interested in women's memoirs and women's rights.—Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

Library Journal