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Martyr! A Novel
by Kaveh Akbar
Narrated by Arian Moayed
10 hours, 39 minutes
When the author came from Iran to attend college in Indiana, he, as does his protagonist Cyrus, went bonkers as he encountered new temptations and freedoms. He fell head over heels in love with alcohol – then drugs – that obviated his life for years.
Now sober for a decade, Akbar begins his novel, as well as his remarks to an AVID audience at the library on March 21, with passionate talk of addiction and sobriety as central to him. Frankly, I was most interested in the Iranian American cultural creation of Kaveh Akbar himself and his novel, Martyr!. (The exclamation mark is to prevent you from taking the title too seriously.) Martyr! is studded with humor and vivid scenarios that dip into US policy of mutual antipathy with Iran; with glimpses into secular Iranian in the Mullahs’ Islamic Republic. Akbar is a storyteller true to his Persian heritage and has published two books of poetry. His lanky frame, waving arms and rapid speech project the kinetic energy that propels Martyr! through family and cultural waters.
Cyrus’s tales unfold with the freshness and flair of hybrid writers. While Iranian men and Akbar’s book rare obsessed with the cult of martyrdom and a meaningful death, Iranian women characters are featured and fascinating. My head was spinning when the book ended. I quickly decided to dive in again. With the drama of the tale digested I was surprised by my delight on his creativity, humanness and humor. The narration is excellent, dramatizing and clarifying the text.
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who Stopped Them
by Timothy Egan
Narration by Timothy Egan
10 Hours, 29 minutes
If you are looking for insight into Americans’ embrace of the MAGA movement and idolization of a charismatic demagogue, Timothy Egan takes us to Indiana and the Klan in the 20s. Not the Klan we know, a southern scourge that shames the region. This resurrected Ku Klux Klan of the North cloaked itself in respectability, brotherhood, and Christian family postures and practices, protecting women and communities from Catholics, swarthy immigrants and Jews as well as keeping the Negros in line. The study of eugenics and so-called proof of White superiority were trendy topics.
The Roaring Twenties was a time when fraternal organizations flourished, brought pride and an aura of privilege to small town life. The Klan fit right in, marching in parades with a women’s auxiliary being just one example. Indiana’s Klan membership grew to 6 million (with dues at $10 each), under the ambitious Grand Dragon D.C. “Steve” Stephenson. Egan’s “meticulous detective work,” as noted by David Grann, author of Killer Moon and The Wager, reveals the meteoric success of a charlatan seducer and manipulator with White House ambitions. While Steve surpasses the audacity and lasciviousness of our current contender, his style and exploits are shockingly familiar. His scandalous trial in the murder of Madge Overholser was page one news in The New York Times, and the sexual abuse depictions of torturous “fangs” and “gnawing” further hurt the Klan’s standing. Egan reads to us with a comfortable earthy Midwestern voice. He closes by asking us “Is it really an aberration?”
