Minou Reeves, nee Samimi, was born in Tehran in 1946, the daughter of a distinguished Iranian historian of Persian Antiquity. She has a Swiss Baccalaureat in European history and literature, a BA in German and French from the National University of Iran and an MA in German from University College, London. Her career took her from the Royal Iranian Diplomatic Service to working directly for the Persian Crown until the Revolution of 1979. She now lives in England and is the author of Behind the Peacock Throne; Female Warriors of Allah: Women and the Islamic Revolution; and Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making.