#391: A Columbus Jaunt

Dick Davis, preeminent translator of Persian literature and professor emeritus at Ohio State University, says that events that happen within a culture are like vodka snuck into a bowl of punch: no matter now much you dilute the punch, the vodka is still there.

Davis goes on to talk about how for Iran, its conquest, first by the Arabs in the 7th century then twice by the Turks and twice by the Mongols – all of which happened within a few hundred years – fostered a cultural sense that “the wrong pe...