{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T232332Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199829705?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0199829705","authors":["Naghmeh Sohrabi"],"book_id":"9780199829705","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/taken-for-wonder-0199829705","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780199829705.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","description":"Taken for Wonder focuses on nineteenth century travelogues authored by Iranians in Europe and argues for a methodological shift from the study of travel to that of writing travel. This shift allows for a different interpretive framework that moves away from an over-emphasis on the destinations of travel (particularly in cases where the destination, like Europe, signifies larger meanings such as modernity) and which historicizes the travelogue itself as a rhetorical text in the service of its origin's concerns and developments. Within this framework, this book demonstrates the ways in which travel writings to Europe were used to position Qajar Iran (1917-1925) within a global context, i.e. narration of travel to Europe was also narrating the power of the Qajar court even when political events were tipped against it; and relatedly, how both travel to Europe and also translations of travel narratives into Persian should be included in our understanding of the importance of geography and mapping to the Qajars, especially during the latter half of the nineteenth century. In this process, it also re-examines the notion that Iranian modernity was the chief outcome of Iranians travelling in and writing about Europe.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780199829705","publication_date":"20120531","publisher":"Oxford University Press","slug":"taken-for-wonder","subtitle":"Nineteenth Century Travel Accounts From Iran to Europe","title":"Taken for Wonder"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Iranian History","score":0.7375,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.727,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV015030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Travel in Turkey","score":0.6949,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Iranian History","score":0.7375,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.727,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV015030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Travel in Turkey","score":0.6949,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004220","confidence_band":"high","label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Iranian History","score":0.7375,"slug":"iranian-history"},{"label":"Middle Eastern Lit Crit","score":0.727,"slug":"middle-eastern-lit-crit"},{"label":"Travel in Turkey","score":0.6949,"slug":"travel-in-turkey"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Iranian History","Good for fans of History","Good for readers who enjoy Iranian History and Middle Eastern Lit Crit."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["John Curtis","Ina Sarikhani Sandmann","Tim Stanley"],"book_id":"9781851779291","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781851779291.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":10.3424,"title":"Epic Iran","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781851779291"},{"authors":["Zuzanna Olszewska"],"book_id":"9780253017604","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780253017604.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":10.203,"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=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.9826,"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=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.9328,"title":"Words, Not Swords","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780815632788"},{"authors":["Ramita Navai"],"book_id":"9781610395199","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781610395199.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.9275,"title":"City of Lies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781610395199"},{"authors":["Shahram Khosravi"],"book_id":"9780812220681","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780812220681.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.9012,"title":"Young and Defiant in Tehran","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780812220681"},{"authors":["Arash Azizi"],"book_id":"9780861549146","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780861549146.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.874,"title":"What Iranians Want","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780861549146"},{"authors":["Alan Verskin"],"book_id":"9781503607736","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781503607736.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":6.6665,"title":"A Vision of Yemen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781503607736"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Iranian History and Middle Eastern Lit Crit.","Publisher: Oxford University Press."]},"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":7,"goodreads_reviews_count":2,"quality_score":0.8279}}