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From the second decade of the 20th Century, the history of Iran is beset by political convulsions. This was at the time of regime change, from QAJAR to PAHLAVI Dynasty. Outside the newly established parliament or the National Consultative Assembly, better known as MAJLES, an assassination took place in November 1925 that is the subject of Terror in Baharestan. The assassination of {Mirza Yahya Keyvani}, or more famously {Va'ez Qazvini}, has historically been attributed to his resemblance to the renowned poet, scholar, and MP, {Malek osh-Sho'ara Bahar} (1886-1951).

One of the researchers of Qazvin's contemporary political history, {Mehdi Nurmohammadi}, who published Qazvin dar enqelab-e mashrutiat ("Qazvin During the Constitutional Revolution") in 2003, is trying to shed light on the political and cultural significance of Va'ez during this time, especially the role that Nasihat Newspaper played within the framework of communist activities. The book proclaims that Va'ez was enough of a political personality to be the target of an assassination (and not simply because of his resemblance to Bahar).

The researcher has not only collected various accounts and narratives -- classifying them under two categories of those who insist on the resemblance theory and those that don't -- but has also had access to the complete back issues of Nasihat, not found in any public library in this country, and other sources to paint a picture of Va'ez's activities during the publication of this newspaper (February 1926 to September 1925).

It could be that given the documents presented in this book, we may not be able to conclude with its author that Va'ez was assassinated for his own sake, but the book has enough thrust for the reader to revisit historical presumptions and reexamine the power of rumors within annals of history.

As mentioned above, another advantage of the documents presented in the book is that the reader can determine the cultural and political importance of Nasihat. Communist activities during this period are still not as established and coherent as they later become, and this can be clearly detected from the life of Va'ez. Mere criticism of the status quo, opposing imperialist Great Britain, or attacking religious superstition was enough for the critic to be branded a "communist". Nor does this book limit itself to analyzing articles published in Nasihat. The reader can get a picture of the organizational structure of the newspaper and the affiliated Anjoman-e Parvaresh ("Parvaresh Society"), around which many notable figures of the communist movement of the time had gathered. As such, Terror in Baharestan is a great source for scholars who want to study communist activities in Iran during the second decade of the 20th century.