At the height of the Cold War a young American teaches in provincial Iran, near the Russian border. His students reveal their inner selves, their struggles to be modern, while still caught in ancient Persian traditions. Hailed as a travel book in the great tradition, the Chicago "Tribune" called it "a delicious rarity that one is sorry to finish but happy to recommend," and the London Sunday "Telegraph" "Observant and often poignant, it is profound in its questions." "The New York Times" Book Review: "An urbane and well-written account . Mr. Harnack has eminently succeeded."