معماى هويدا delves into the enthralling life and tragic death of Amir Abbas Hoveyda, a central figure in Iran's historic struggle between modernity and tradition. This struggle pitted Western cosmopolitanism against Persian isolationism, secularism against religious fundamentalism, and ultimately civil society and democracy against authoritarianism.

Explore the life of Hoveyda, set against the backdrop of a nation grappling with its identity. The Persian Sphinx is biography at its most powerful, reading like a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy. It offers insights into the political and cultural upheavals that led to the fundamentalist revolution in Iran, rewarding both the general reader and the scholar alike.