A Journey to the Heart of Iran

Reviews

“A masterful, heartwarming tale about a friendship that transcends cultural divides. This is precisely the story we need right now.”

Reza Aslan, God: A Human History

“Astonishing and poignant! As flavorful as Hassan’s pomegranate-walnut chicken Fessenjan, Searching for Hassan blends wide ranging literary allusions with endearing family interactions. The book that describes this quest easily could have been one more sentimental journey, but the trip back to Iran proves to be a new beginning in the saga of the Wards and the Ghasemis. For something very unusual happened in that Persian garden more than 30 years ago: the family of an American Christian oil company executive and the family of an Iranian Muslim cook became one.

Gelareh Asayesh, The Washington Post Book World

“In Ward’s telling, the journey becomes a search not just for Hassan but on discovering how much of the old, aesthetic Persia remains beneath the surface of the new, ascetic Iran. The typical form of Hafez’s poetry is a ghazal, or song of praise. In a sense, Searching for Hassan, is itself a kind of ghazal, an unexpected ode to Iran.  Miraculously—in finding all the Ghasemis alive, safe and prosperous, such optimism seems almost to have received a kind of divine blessing.”

Adam Goodheart, The New York Times Book Review

“This is an enlightening work, in culture and history–a true bridge-builder between East and West.  In his memoir, Terence Ward offers an informative and artful description of the rich Iranian culture.  His revealing account reflects a profound understanding of Iranian traditions and ways of life through real human experiences. Searching for Hassan can only lead to a better understanding of this complex, misunderstood part of the world, promoting, at the same time, the noble art of conversation between peoples. This book could not come at a better time!”

Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan

“At a time when Islamic culture and Muslim societies have never seemed more forbiddingly mysterious or more important to understand, Terence Ward’s compelling new memoir provides a marvelously nuanced portrait of Iran-its landscape, its rich history, and, most important, its people. As we strain to see beyond generalizations and abstractions about this enigmatic and fascinating culture, Ward’s book yields telling details, revealing incidents, and deeply personal experiences, and he introduces us to men and women who are more complex and sympathetic – and more like us – than we might have imagined…. Their reunion, against all odds, is a heartening testament to the enduring power of friendship and human connection, and to how bounds of loyalty and love can survive the ravages of history and time, and can bridge the deepest and most perilous divides created by politics, culture and religion. ”

Francine Prose, Elle Magazine

“Readers prone to wanderlust beware. Equipped with little more than a garbled village name, a photograph and their indomitable sense of adventure, the Ward family embarks on a quest to find Hassan, the Iranian man they had all grown to love during their expatriate life decades earlier.  Swaying across the Islamic Republic in a rented bus, the four now-grown sons and their parents discover the new, the enduring and the comic in an enigmatic country swept by some of the most startling events of recent history.”

Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, Middle East correspondent

“As an admirer of Iranian culture, I have taken immense pleasure reading this beautifully written tale of love and hope and nostalgia. Thank you for this journey into the soul of a great people and removing the pest of the ayatollahs. Bless you for having given us this book.”

Dominique Lapierre, City of Joy, Freedom at Midnight, Is Paris Burning

“A wise and lyrical appreciation of one of the world’s great cultures. Terence Ward knows Iran and loves it in a way that transcends the politics of the moment. He points the way, through his insight and sensitivity, toward a reconciliation of two great nations–Iran and the United States–that may soon be a reality.”

Joe Klein, Time Magazine

“A nostalgic, harrowing pilgrimage.”

The New Yorker

“The publication of Searching for Hassan could not come at a more opportune time. No doubt it will take much more than 300 pages to dispel stereotypical images of Middle Eastern mobs burning U.S. flags, and the 1980 hostage crisis still obstructs our current attempt to understand Islam. Yet Ward’s sympathetic and humane portrayals of everyday Iranians can help us transcend today’s policy papers and State Department briefings in order to find commonalities.”

Steve Lyons, USA Today

“For another view of Iran, the country President Bush has reduced to an “axis of evil,” along with Iraq and North Korea, Terence Ward refers you to his new book, Searching for Hassan.  Just released by Houghton Mifflin, the book is part cultural history, part travel memoir, but most of all it is Ward’s impression of a country that shows is far more subtle than most Westerners know. Ward describes a more intricate image of a nation caught in a tug of war with itself, he shows the country in all its complexity.  Most Westerners would hardly recognize it.”

Mary Rourke, Los Angeles Times

“Humane and even-handed, Searching for Hassan, is a plea for pluralism, attempting to narrow the cultural divide that separates the West from the Islamic World.  In a time where nationalism and xenophobia are reaching alarming proportions, a novel so dedicated to transcultural exploration and integration is more relevant than ever.  By revealing the humanity of a culture the West finds so threatening, Ward allows even the most bigoted among us to see past the exotic names, the political clashes and the cultural differences, to the deeper values that all cultures share: family, history and respect.”

Birmingham Weekly

“In a powerful memoir that plumbs the depths of Iranian culture and tradition, Ward describes a memorable journey through a land few Americans know or understand. Here the poetry of Hafez is as well known as the words of the Koran, Zoroastrian festivals are as common as Islamic holy days, and the glories of past Persia are forever linked with the country’s future. This debut is remarkable for its vivid prose and depth of information.

Library Journal

 “Searching for Hassan should be required reading for US foreign policy makers.

How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio
Changed an Ordinary Life Today

Reviews

“This book is a great act of compassion, like the painting it celebrates. I was deeply impressed and moved.  That is the power of a real Caravaggio. Sometimes, it simply changes your life. Terence Ward’s The Guardian of Mercy describes Naples, a distinctly complicated city with accuracy and empathy. This unusual and poignant book insists that Caravaggio’s paintings still call upon us to think and act, not just to look on passively, and in laying down this challenge, as Ward argues, the artist extends a compassionate hand to his viewers across the centuries.
Ingrid Rowland, New York Review of Books

“The Guardian of Mercy is just superb. And bold. I can’t think of a book quite like it.  Just brilliant!”
Pete Hamill , Forever, A Drinking Life,
 Why Sinatra Matters, Downtown: My Manhattan

“A story of grace! Terence Ward’s powerful, moving narrative interweaves Caravaggio’s life story with those of people in contemporary Naples whose lives are transformed by the power of art—and mercy. This remarkable book is arriving just at the right time. Thank you for a moving and wonderful account of the power of art and grace with such generosity of spirit. Wonderful!”
Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels,
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

“Ecstatic and soul-searching! Written with grace with almost every sentence imparting an epiphany. An electrifying reading experience and a wondrous book on Caravaggio in which Ward also stages a powerful encounter with old and contemporary Naples. The great gift of the book is to humanize Caravaggio by endowing him with interiority and by recognizing the empathy and lessons in mercy at work in The Seven Acts of Mercy.
Pellegrino d’Acierno, Director of Italian Studies
Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, Hofstra University
The Sphere and the Labyrinth, Jung and the Humanities

“A great, a great-hearted gift to our poor, violent, suffering old world. I read with tears in my eyes the whole story of Angelo’s struggle and Idanna’s heroic good sense and kindness. And, of course, Caravaggio’s vision of mercy, luminous among the shadows. It is sorely needed by all of us. And so I give my thanks.”
Wendell Berry The Unsettling of America,
 A World Lost, Sabbaths: Poems

“The most beguiling aspect of this story is viewing the dissection of the painting and inspecting the elaboration of each act of mercy. In alternate chapters, Terence Ward skillfully reconstructs the ambiguous events of the painter’s life while showing how the artwork impacts and affects the emotions and actions of its current caretaker. The author provides a rich tapestry that intricately weaves the story of an iconic painter and his influence on the viewer.
San Francisco Book Review

“The Guardian of Mercy is a heartfelt story of a stunning painting and a wondrous city.  Terence Ward takes us on a remarkable journey of discovery of Caravaggio’s Seven Acts of Mercy and along the way illuminates unusual and profound aspects of this long neglected masterpiece.”
Jerry Brown, Governor of California
Dialogues

“The book is not only keen, in its imaginative passages to counteract the ‘tabloid portrait’ of Caravaggio which highlights his wild-man tendencies at the expense of his dedication, but also to present his work as the bearer of hope, and not merely as a series of paranoid or apocalyptic historical visions. For Esposito, Caravaggio is from the streets but also above them, offering a sense of familiarity and also contact with the transcendent—artistic genius but also human wisdom.”
Leo Robson, Art and Literary Critic, The New Statesman
CHRISTIE’S magazine

“Bravissimo! Naples with her multilayered humanity is magnificently evoked, as well as the method of Caravaggio’s composition in chiaro scuro, light and shadow.”
Raffaele La Capria , The Snow of Vesuvius,
Capri and No Longer Capri

“I read with extreme pleasure this wonderful book. There is, need I say, so much written about Caravaggio.
I was stunned by Ward’s account. This book does everything art writing should do. I am pleased beyond envy.”
David Carrier, A World Art History and its Objects,
 Proust/Warhol: Analytical Philosophy of Art

“Strangely compelling . . . a charming departure from the typical narrative of art history. Ward weaves the story of Caravaggio—who was accused of several counts of murder and condemned to a death sentence by the pope, and who eventually died a mysterious, lonely death—with the contemporary story of a guard stationed at Pio Monte della Misericordia.”
Publishers Weekly

“Anyone interested in art and its power to change lives will appreciate this thoughtful work. Ward has written an absorbing account of the powerful experience. The narrative moves back and forth between Caravaggio’s time and the present in prose as colorful and compelling as the painting itself.”
Booklist

“Ward’s work offers a refreshing look at a once-forgotten—but now much-celebrated—artistic genius. The author also reveals the subtle and profound ways in which art and life interact. Fascinating reading about a significant artistic figure and his legacy.”
Kirkus Review

How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally

Reviews

“​There is no better primer for understanding the rise of jidadist violence than my friend Terence Ward’s The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Export Extremism Globally. Intended for young readers, it will educate their elders as well. His impeccable research destroys the prejudices and myths surrounding the distortion of Islam to benefit the Saudi royal family, western oil companies and arms dealers.”​
Charles Glass, contributor New York Review of Books, Middle East specialist
Syria Burning and Tribes with Flags

“Ward’s book is a compulsion of our time. I believe his experience living in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, and his percipient observation of day-to-day life in each Muslim country, will help us to have a more insightful view of the “Wahhabi question.” His concern about its possible impact on the world’s war and peace should be ours.”
Goenawan Mohamad, columnist, poet, and founder of Tempo,
In Other Words: Forty Years of Essays from Indonesia

“I would recommend The Wahhabi Code to all, especially those policy makers on issues in the Middle East and beyond.”
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral
Human Development; Former President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

“The Wahhabi Code reveals how a state can abet extremists and terrorists while at the same time claiming to be their enemy. Having nurtured the spread of Wahhabism and its lethal ideology throughout the world, Saudi Arabia has succeeded in silencing most media criticism. But Terence Ward’s important book breaks that silence, explaining the role of Wahhabism in distorting Islam fueling the rise of ISIS and Al Qaeda. This timely book presents the truth about Wahhabism and the nature of Islam in a fresh, gripping narrative. It is a must read.”
Amed Khan, Director, Global Paradigm Group
Advisor to the ClintonGiustra Enterprise Group

“Terence Ward, an American long rooted in Italy, has written a precious book interpreting ISIS.  Through massive financing of mosques and madrasas, the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia are trying to attract traditional Islam to their radical vision, and on the other side, they have financed our politicians and the mass media to silently abide.”
Franco Cardini, medieval historian and Middle East expert
Europe and Islam, Jerusalem: a History, Samarkand: the Turquoise Dream

“It is time for the United States to reconsider its 70-year relationship with the kingdom in Riyadh. Terence Ward, author of the internationally praised memoir, Searching for Hassan, knows about Saudi Arabia: while born in Colorado, he spent his childhood in Saudi Arabia and Iran.  Not only does he have a rich understanding of the deep conflicts within Islam and between nations in the Middle East, but his understanding of the subtleties of those conflicts go well beyond that of most Westerners. As tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have rapidly escalated, Ward reaches out with a thoughtful perspective on Saudi Arabia and the West.”
Stanley Weiss, Chariman Emeritus, Business Executives for National Security
Columnist, Huffington Post

Islam’s many flavors are as misunderstood as they are mischaracterized in today’s Western society. Ward’s The Wahhabi Code demystifies one of the more virulent and violent strains of modern day Islam.  Anyone interested in the relationship between religious extremism and America’s ally Saudi Arabia needs to read this book.
Markos Kounalakis, McClatchy columnist; Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution
Spin Wars & Spy Games: Global Media and Intelligence Gathering

“Fascinating, compelling and learned…”
Joe Conason, Editor-in-Chief, The National Memo
The Hunting of the President

“Ward proves himself a friend of the Muslim world, whose only wish is to call attention to moderate Islam as the religion of peace it was originally intended to be.”
Jordan Elgrably, Director of The Markaz Review