In her college days in the United States, Azar Nafisi was active in student movements against the war in Vietnam and in opposing the rule of the dictator of Iran, the Shah. Nafisi slowly became homesick and, with the toppling of the Shah in 1979, decided to return home to Tehran. The revolution initially encompassed a broad spectrum of society, including leftists, secularists, monarchists and Islamists, among others. But the Islamists began employing ruthless tactics and slowly ousted or repressed all other factions. The government was now dominated by the Islamists. They began imposing a strict interpretation of Islamic society on the population. Perhaps initially regarded as revolutionary over-enthusiasm, the imposition of Islamic law and practice became ever more rigid and dogmatic over the years.

Women were the most directly impacted by the new Islamist repression. Strict codes of dress, speech and behavior were especially targeted at...