Literature from the "Axis of Evil", gathers short stories and poems
from three countries that once received that label from President Bush
— Iraq, North Korea and Iran. Additional material in the collection
comes from Syria, Cuba, Sudan and Libya.

On Thursday’s Morning Edition on NPR, Steve Inskeep spoke with Azar Nafisi, an Iranian-born writer and author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. She says that writing can offer insights into a country that aren’t part of the official government line.

"The
governments might be considered quote unquote the enemy, but definitely
not the people," Nafisi says. "These stories and poems offer an
alternate view, which is very different from the politicized and
polarized view of these nations."

She says that Iranian writers, for example, use a subtle approach to criticize their own government.

"Because
subtlety is in fact a way of resistance — the brutal obviousness of an
authoritarian state. [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] is very
obvious… but these writers are subtle because they are trying to also
shape the mind of the readers" with nuance and playfulness.

There’s also a CD of lullabies from the AOE. Producer  Erik Hilstadt recorded lullabies sung by women from countries deemed
U.S. enemies. "Lullabies lead us to the deepest and most fundamental
way of communication between human beings," he says in the CD’s liner
notes.