They Said They Wanted Revolution: A Memoir of My Parents

From a daughter of Iranian revolutionaries, activists, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers comes a gripping and emotional memoir of family and the tumultuous history of two nations.

In 1969, Neda Toloui-Semnani's Iranian-born parents were politically active Berkeley students fired up by America's antiwar movement. Almost a decade later, Iran was on the brink of revolution, and Faramarz and Farahnaz returned to Iran to witness the end of the monarchy and the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Conflicted for years about her parents' choices, Neda realized that to move forward, she had to face the past head-on.

In exploring, reconciling, and embracing the story of her parents, Neda untangles more than sixty years of Irano-American relations, from their symbiotic beginnings in the 1950s to their present-day aggressions. It's the rarely told story of what happens to revolutionaries and their families when uprisings gain momentum, when uneasy alliances splinter, and when the unforeseen costs of righteous activism impact generations. An epic family drama, a fiercely independent love story, and a timely true-life political thriller, Neda's memoir is deeply personal, globally relevant, and unforgettable.