Although Persian is one of the world's oldest languages, in its modern form it is still spoken by more than forty million people in Iran and by more than twenty million people elsewhere. These volumes provide students from beginning to intermediate levels with a mastery of modern Persian (also known as farsi) and with an understanding of colloquial Persian.

The books offer extended vocabulary, grammar, and essays on aspects of Iranian culture. Volume I emphasizes speaking and understanding, and Volume 2 focuses on the written language. The first to teach Persian as a living language, Modern Persian incorporates the most effective methodologies and the most recent cultural and linguistic changes occurring in Iran.

Donald Stilo is a scientist at Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, working on the Northwest Iranian Language Project in the Linguistics Department. Kamran Talattof is associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Jerome W. Clinton was professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.