BOOKS/FRANCE

SCENES OF RESISTANCE

To Be a Persian; By Manouchehr Ganji; Michel Lafon; 297 pages

The only things of value Manouchehr Ganji took with him when he fled Iran following the 1979 revolution were a few Persian rugs. Findng political refuge in the U.S., the quiet scholar and onetime Education Minister to the Shah sold the rugs to start a bakery in Texas, which became a lucrative business. Urged by the Shah's son to head the monarchists' resistance in Paris, Ganji left in 1986 for France. In his memoir, To Be a Persian (Etre Persan), Ganji tells how he discovered the monarchists to be self-serving and narrow-minded; he soon broke away to form the Flag of Freedom, a nationalist pro-democracy group that broadcasts information by pirate radio to Iran.

In 1993, Ganji writes, Tehran accused him of "plotting against Islam'' and promised a reward for his assassination; several colleagues have already been murdered. French security guards protect Ganji around the clock, and he always travels from his Paris suburban home in a bulletproof automobile. Because of his documentation of human- rights violations in Iran, he believes that "in a certain way I signed with my own hand the ayatollahs' death warrant." Ganji's book, which the newsmagazine Le Point has called a "testimony written with passion,'' examines radical Islamic factions outside Iran and concludes that the ayatollahs' war that started in his country "has become worldwide on the basis of terrorism.'' In the wake of the bombings in Paris, this statement appears chillingly convincing.

BOOKS/SOUTH AFRICA

WHAT THE PRISONER TAUGHT HIS GUARD

Goodbye Bafana; By James Gregory, with Bob Graham; Headline Books; 368 pages

During Nelson Mandela's 18 years on Robben Island and later in prison near Cape Town, his jailer was an Afrikaner named James Gregory. At the inauguration in Pretoria in 1994 of South Africa's first black President, Gregory was there, seated in the vip section at Mandela's invitation. Raised as a disciple of apartheid, Gregory had ingrained beliefs that were shaken by the humility and wisdom of the man he guarded. From jailer, he was transformed into caretaker, go-between, admirer and friend. The son of a farmer, Gregory had a childhood companion, a Zulu boy named Bafana. When Mandela was freed in 1990, Gregory bade him "Goodbye, Bafana,'' linking the leader to the black friend of his youth.

Written with British journalist Bob Graham, the book movingly tells of Mandela's grief when his son died in an auto accident in 1969; many years later, prisoner Mandela comforted a despairing Gregory when his son was also killed in a car crash. Favorably reviewed in South Africa as a compelling account, Gregory's book was not endorsed by Mandela. Reportedly, he regards it as a mercenary work that takes advantage of his many years of imprisonment and is especially displeased that letters he sent to his wife Winnie and other relatives are included without permission. He is said to have asked his attorneys to determine whether his old jailer has broken the copyright law.

TELEVISION/UNITED STATES

KING OF THE HILL

Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch? Produced by Jim Gilmore; Frontline; PBS

When Rupert Murdoch's father died, he left his son one small newspaper in Australia and, in his will, expressed the hope that the young man would spend a "useful, altruistic and full life in newspapers and broadcasting." From that single paper, Murdoch built a media empire that extends across six continents; his News Corp. brought in around $9 billion in revenues last year from book, newspaper and magazine publishing, television and films, satellite broadcasting and online access to the Internet. The 90-min. documentary, narrated by U.S. media critic Ken Auletta, traces the tycoon's ascension from his days at a prestigious Australian boarding school, where the scions of old money snubbed the newspaperman's son and, says Auletta, the seeds of his "antiestablishment anger were first planted."

The price for his ambition has often been paid by others, the program points out. He modernized his Fleet Street printing plant and, in doing so, destroyed the British press unions. When he removed the bbc News Service from his Star TV satellite last year, it was to gain favor with the Beijing government. "Not the best chapter in a long and glorious history,'' comments Andrew Neil, a onetime Murdoch associate. His tabloids sell well, but lower journalistic standards and the tawdry, less-than-altruistic entertainment offered on his Fox television cheapen cultural values. Over time, Auletta asks, will Murdoch be regarded as a visionary, a malignant genius or both?

EXHIBITS/BELGIUM

IS THAT A PICASSO YOU'RE WEARING?

"Mode and Art: 1960-1990"; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

The walls separating fashion and art have been tumbling for three decades, but when people began walking around in T shirts with likenesses of the Mona Lisa or Munch's The Scream, it became evident that utter confusion reigned where once there were clear-cut divisions. A Brussels exhibit makes a witty tour through the many byways of art's influence on modern fashion, and has provoked leading contemporary designers to consider the interaction between the two. Interviewed in the Belgian daily Le Soir, designer Martin Margiela states emphatically, "I don't think fashion is art."

That's just his opinion, and visitors to the Palais des Beaux-Arts can make up their own mind at the exhibit, which features 150 works by 40 designers and artists. One striking mannequin wears the famed 1967 wedding gown by Christo; in silk shorts and sleeveless top, she drags a bulky bundle of white satin attached to her by ropes, symbolizing both the traditional bridal-gown train as well as the onerous burden of marriage. Yves Saint Laurent meets Mondrian in the French designer's '60s trapezoid dress with red, blue and yellow squares and black lines. In six 1983 photos, Keith Haring explored minimalism by costuming choreographer Bill T. Jones only in body paint. The popular show is scheduled to run through early January, and will move later next year to Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art.

--By Emily Mitchell. Reported by Alexandra Chang/Paris, Peter Hawthorne/Cape Town and Catherine Kotschoubey/Brussels