Below is a report which appeared in the Tehran Times on July 4, 2011 announcing the translation of Farrokh’s second book, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War into Persian. The report also appeared in the Defense Technology News website as well as PressTV and The Times of Iran. The Mehr News Agency of Iran has also announced the impending publication of the text in Persian (also posted in various Iranian sites such as Khabar Farsi and Balatarin):
ناگفتههایی از قدرت سپاهیان ایران باستان در «سایههای صحرا» بازگو شد
The translation of Farrokh’s second book (Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War) was done by Qoqnoos Publishers with the English to Persian translation having been done by Shahrbanu Saremi.
Farrokh’s most recent book, Iran at War: 1500-1988 (released April 2011) was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Note the following radio interviews scheduled to date with Farrokh on Iran at War: 1500-1988:
- WFLA-AM, Tampa Florida (June 17, 2011)
- WHFS-AM Washington DC (July 1, 2011)
- KCMN-AM, Colorado Springs (july 5, 2011)
- Money Matters Network – Stu Taylor on Business, National Syndicated (July 7, 2011)
- WGTD-FM Milwaukee WI (July 12, 2011)
- WDEV, Burlington VT (date to be announced)
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Book on military technology of ancient Iran translated into Persian (July 4, 2011)
Tehran Times Culture Desk
Written by Kaveh Farrokh, a Canadian-based Iranian scholar at the University of British Columbia, the book, Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War, has been rendered into Persian by Shahrbanu Saremi who told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Sunday:
“Authored in English, this book is a weighty tome that contains discussions on wars and armies of ancient Iran…,Qoqnoos Publishing House will be printed the book in the near future” .
A number of unique illustrations depicting the wars and the structure of the Persian armies will be published in the book, which also includes a foreword by Harvard Professor Emeritus Richard Neslon Frye.
Meeting his mentors: Farrokh greets Professor Emeritus Richard Nelson Frye of Harvard University(shaking hands with Farrokh) and world-renowned Iranologist, Dr. Farhang Mehr (at center), winner of the 2010 Merit and Scholarship award (photo from Persian American Society,March 1, 2008). As noted in page 2, 2010 of the peer-reviewed Iranshenasi Journal, Professor Frye of Harvard University wrote the foreword of Farrokh’s text stating that “…Dr. Kaveh Farrokh has given us the Persian side of the picture as opposed to the Greek and Roman viewpoint …it is refreshing to see the other perspective, and Dr. farrokh sheds light on many Persian institutions in this history…” .
The English version of “Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War” was released by Osprey Publishing in 2007 and its Russian version came out from Eksmo Publishers in 2009.
Shadows in the Desert Ancient Persia at War translated to Russian -Персы: Армия великих царей-(consult the Russian EXMO Publishers website) . The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media selected “Shadows in the Desert” as the best history book of 2008 and provided Farrokh with a Persian Golden Lioness Award.
The Iran Review reported on July 11, 2007:
The empires of ancient Persia remain as mysterious today as they were to contemporary Western scholars. Although Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia is legendary, the military successes of the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanian empires, along with their revolutionary military technology, tactics, and culture have been almost forgotten in the sands of the East. Containing information never before published in English, Shadows in the Desert offers a comprehensive history of Persia’s wars with East and West which spanned over a millennium, and offers an insight into the exchange of ideas and culture that occurred during these clashes between East and West, not only military technology, but influences in the arts, medicine, religion and science.
The CHN (Cultural Heritage News Agency) Service of Iran reported in May 1, 2007:
“Containing information never published in English before, Shadows in the Desert provides a comprehensive history of Persian Wars with East and West from the 6th century BC, and offers an insight into the exchange of ideas and culture that occurred during these clashes in military technology, the arts, medicine, religion, and science. This beautifully illustrated book delves into the rich heritage of the Persians, which was spread through war and conquest, and which, after the fall of the Sassanians, continued to impact upon civilization around the world. He also delves into the forgotten cultural heritage of the Persians, spread across the world through war and conquest, which, even after the fall of the Sassanians, continued to impact upon the Western world. In this book Dr. Kaveh Farrokh has also shown the Persian side of the picture as opposed to the Greek and roman viewpoint which has long dominated our understanding of these wars. It is refreshing to see the other perspective. The first charter of human rights which was composed during the glorious Achaemenid Empire by its founder, Cyrus the Great, and the cylinder on which the words are inscribed and is being kept at the British Museum, is another live witness to Persian glory during ancient times.”
