This Goes Out to the Underground

In this searingly honest memoir, an activist and human-trafficking expert retells the true story of how she utilized illicit trade networks to smuggle herself across the globe and save her daughter—and ignited a feminist movement.

• “A riveting story of how one mother’s pain can unlock a global network of resistance–and how women can topple empires.”
  Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project
• "Mahdavi has written an extraordinary story of living between two worlds—the West and Iran—and figuring out her place in both. Her book is a page-turner with unexpected twists; I stayed up until 3 a.m. devouring it. At times harrowing, at times hopeful, this book shines a light on what feminism means in the Middle East and the brave soldiers on its front line. At the same time, Mahdavi, a rebel at heart, shows how far America has yet to go with its treatment of women, particularly immigrants."
   
  Kim Barker, author of The Taliban Shuffle
• “This Goes Out to the Underground floored me. The whiplash narrative turns would grace a novel; the compilation of astonishing facts about the realities being endured in our midst will spur astonishment and outrage; the lucid, compassionate prose is a gift.”
  Jonathan Lethem
• “Pardis has written a breath-taking book—I couldn’t put it down. She has provided eye-opening and heartbreaking insights into society, sex workers, and trafficking in Tehran and Dubai. She has revealed the extraordinary efforts of feminists to achieve justice, the sacrifices they have made, and the allies they have attracted to the cause. This book is a testament to the courage of those women and the positive changes they have brought about.”
  Emma Sky, OBE, author of The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq
• “This book had me gasping for air. Pardis Mahdavi’s story is not only viscerally entertaining, but also a coming of age memoir of a woman between cultures, a social history of the underground sexual revolution in Iran, a documenting of global human trafficking, and finally a blueprint for a new kind of activism. I walked away humbled by the underground warriors—the dawn patrol—that sustain us when our institutions can’t or won’t.”
  Jad Abumrad, creator of Radiolab
• “A riveting and propulsive tale. Whether writing about Iran or America, Mahdavi takes the reader into worlds usually hidden or unseen. Her story is remarkable, as unflinching as it is inspiring.”
  Jasmin Darznik, New York Times bestselling author of The Bohemians
• "Pardis Mahdavi has written an intensely compelling book, equal parts social manifesto and heart-rending memoir. The individuals portrayed in these pages and their crisscrossing journeys comprise a map of the emergent feminism to come. This Goes Out To the Underground is a brilliant synthesis of passionate storytelling and rigorous critical inquiry."
   
  Christopher Schaberg, author of Pedagogy of the Depressed
• "This Goes Out to the Underground is a gripping, harrowing, and heroic tale. Pardis Mahdavi shows the courage it takes to tell stories of the nature of humankind to those who would suppress such truths."
   
  Tania Tetlow, President of Fordham University