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In today's Tehran, intrigues abound and survival depends on an intricate network of falsehoods: mullahs visit prostitutes, local mosques train barely pubescent boys in crowd control tactics, and cosmetic surgeons promise to restore girls' virginity. Navai paints an intimate portrait of those discreet recesses in a city where the difference between modesty and profanity, loyalty and betrayal, honor and disgrace is often no more than the believability of a lie.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781610395199","publication_date":"20140909","publisher":"Public Affairs","slug":"city-of-lies","subtitle":"Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran","title":"City of Lies"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Iranian History","score":0.7909,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.7214,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAF046090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle East for Teens","score":0.7089,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Iranian History","score":0.7909,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.7214,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAF046090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle East for Teens","score":0.7089,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Iranian History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Iranian History","score":0.7909,"slug":"iranian-history"},{"label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.7214,"slug":"middle-eastern-lit-crit"},{"label":"Middle East for Teens","score":0.7089,"slug":"middle-east-for-teens"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Iranian History","Good for readers who enjoy Iranian History and Middle Eastern Lit Crit."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Shahram Khosravi"],"book_id":"9780812220681","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780812220681.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":14.7155,"title":"Young and Defiant in Tehran","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780812220681"},{"authors":["Zuzanna Olszewska"],"book_id":"9780253017604","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780253017604.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":14.2712,"title":"The Pearl of Dari","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780253017604"},{"authors":["Fatemeh Keshavarz"],"book_id":"9780807859575","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780807859575.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":10.4527,"title":"Jasmine and Stars","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780807859575"},{"authors":["Farzaneh Milani"],"book_id":"9780815632788","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780815632788.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":9.98,"title":"Words, Not Swords","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780815632788"},{"authors":["Arash Azizi"],"book_id":"9780861549146","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780861549146.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":9.9751,"title":"What Iranians Want","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780861549146"},{"authors":["Naghmeh Sohrabi"],"book_id":"9780199829705","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780199829705.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":9.9072,"title":"Taken for Wonder","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780199829705"},{"authors":["John Curtis","Ina Sarikhani Sandmann","Tim Stanley"],"book_id":"9781851779291","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781851779291.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":9.8989,"title":"Epic Iran","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781851779291"},{"authors":["Karen Elliott House"],"book_id":"9780307473288","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307473288.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":6.6607,"title":"On Saudi Arabia","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307473288"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Iranian History and Middle Eastern Lit Crit.","Publisher: Public Affairs."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":3273,"goodreads_reviews_count":362,"quality_score":0.9295}}