Couchsurfing in Iran: Revealing a Hidden World

Included in the 2018 summer reading list by New York Times BooksA modern-day glimpse into the surprising reality of life in Iran. Iran: A destination that is seldom seen by westerners yet often misunderstood.A country that simultaneously “enchants and enrages” those who visit it.A place where leading a double life has become the norm. In Couchsurfing in Iran, award-winning author Stephan Orth spends sixty-two days on the road in this mysterious Islamic republic to provide a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at life in one of the world’s most closed societies.Through the unsurpassed hospitality of twenty-two hosts, he skips the guidebooks and tourist attractions and travels from Persian carpet to bed to cot, covering more than 8,400 kilometers to recount “this world’s hidden doings.” Experiencing daily what he calls the “two Irans” that coexist side by side-the “theocracy, where people mourn their martyrs” in mausoleums, and the “hide-and-seek-ocracy, where people hold secret parties an