Intellectualism in Iran is a story of suffering, struggle, and resistance; the story of women and men who have thought, written, and stood on the path of freedom, justice, and human dignity, and often paid the price for it with rejection, humiliation, imprisonment, and even their own lives.

”Desert Flowers” is an attempt to reread this challenging history; an analytical look at the emergence, evolution, and role of intellectuals in Iranian society, from the definition and concept of intellectualism to its types, trends, obstacles to growth, and reasons for opposing it.

Masoud Noghrekar, relying on decades of lived experience and cultural and political activism, presents a comprehensive and at the same time critical picture of intellectuals in Iran, a picture in which both the role of intellectuals in the transformation of society is highlighted and their mistakes and shortcomings are carefully examined.

This book is an invitation to rethink: to question the place of the ”awakened conscience of society” in a time when we need it more than ever.