Skip navigation
London Review of Books London Review Bookshop

Diary subscriber-only content

Roxanne Varzi

No one was guarding the gates to the grounds of the Imamzadeh Ali Akbar Cheezari in Tehran, where the son of the Imam Zayn al-Abedin is interred, the first time I visited, in 2000. The mausoleum now stands in a cemetery where hundreds of martyrs of the war with Iraq are buried.

subscriber-only content Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is available for purchase online. Buy this article.

Roxanne Varzi teaches anthropology at the University of California Irvine. Warring Souls: Youth, Media and Martyrdom came out last May.

LRB cover artwork

From the archive

Smilingly Excluded
Richard Lloyd Parry: An Outsider in Tokyo

Hoogah-Boogah
James Wolcott on Rick Moody

Terror on the Vineyard
Terry Castle: Boss Ladies, Watch Out!

My Milk
Anne Enright writes about becoming a mother

Short Cuts
Mary-Kay Wilmers remembers D.A.N. Jones