The land of the Iranians, known to European travelers for centuries as Persia, is a land of mountains, deserts, plains, and forests. The author adds to our understanding with his selection of three thousand years of descriptive writing. He allows us to visit the courts of Cyrus and Xerxes, to ride out with the Parthians and Sassanians.

David Blow's columns about trying to get a dying friend a baseball signed by his beloved Yankees for his 44th and final birthday brought tears, while his description of teaching his toddlers to ski elicited smiles. In "Blow by Blow," this small-town-journalist-turned-professor offers a collection of his best columns and newspaper stories written throughout his career. Blow writes about brushes with celebrities, including Robert Redford, Jerry Springer and Ted Turner, and murders, including the slaying of a man by his girlfriend, who then stashed his body in a chest freezer. Touching and...