Persepolis, Vol. 1

This book kept me up all night. I couldn't put it down. It is both very informative and very personal, and is a great starting point for learning more about the political environment in the Middle East. This is only one person's story, so it's far from an encompassing tale of the entire situation, but she takes time from her story to explain events and how they came about. News articles don't portray situations with the same gravitas as a memoir. Marjane admits that she was quite privileged growing up, so it's not as if you're reading a war journal. This is the story of a normal person from Iran, who mostly manages to avoid the horrors of war, yet is unable to escape the oppressive rule of the established regime. Required reading for everybody.