I just finished reading Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. This book has so many aspects that appeal to me, and I’ve been told to read it by several people. First, it’s an easy read because of the graphic novel format. Second, it’s about a young woman’s struggle to understand religion and politics (very familiar to me). Third, it sheds light on a subject that’s generally perplexing.

The funny thing is that I really thought the whole Iraq/Iran thing was probably just too complicated for me to understand. News stories tell you the details of the day — how many people died, what some commander said, what some stupid politician said — but they don’t give you a big picture understanding of the war or the people involved. I’ve been struggling to understand how our country could have gotten involved in something so many citizens oppose and how we could continue our involvement there even after most of us have figured out that war is a bad idea. I really think the problem is that we don’t understand it. I mean, regular citizens who aren’t in the military and have been born and raised in this country and have never been to Iraq or Iran and who aren’t history or political science experts, that segment of the population just doesn’t understand how this all came to be. We don’t have the context for it. It’s like trying to analyze Shakespeare without ever having heard of meter. So we have a hard time speaking our minds on the subject.

I won’t say that Satrapi’s book is the only one you have to read. There’s definitely a lot more to learn, but I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Iraq and Iran but feels overwhelmed by the complex details. Persepolis is a great starting point.

Finally, check out this video clip of Satrapi on “The Colbert Report.”

Find the book here: The Complete Persepolis