"This wonderful book examines the history of the left wing of the Iranian diaspora in the U.S., developing a theory of revolutionary affect in the process. Moradian is a wonderful writer and interviewer who combines analytic sophistication with an unusual kind of political and intellectual generosity."
Lisa Duggan, Commie Pinko Queer newsletter
"This Flame Within takes seriously the power, pleasure, and melancholy of social movements. It would work especially well in upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars. Moradian's MFA in creative nonfiction and many years of organizing work in progressive feminist of color and anti-war social movements help her construct a beautifully written academic book that is also a generous and tender recording of social history."
Neda Maghbouleh, Gender and Society
"A useful contribution to the many legacies of the Iranian revolution, and not just of the secular masculine left. Examining This Flame Within allows one to ask how revolutionary knowledge is transmitted across generations, how new generational understandings draw on lessons from historical legacies on which they claim to build, and how so-called defeats and victories in the past actually have complicated and multiple legacies for future action."
Michael M. J. Fischer, Public Books
"An important and timely history of the Iranian Students Association (ISA) during the Cold War era. . . . Moradian's meticulous close readings of her interlocutors-their words, emotions, and bodily comportments-give readers a sense of the weight that this history holds for her subjects. Her ability to access these communities and forms of knowledge is particularly critical to her arguments on affect."
Ida Yalzadeh, Mashriq & Mahjar
