Pnmilani_093_mac.jpg : : Abbas Milani is a Hoover Institution scholar who specializes on U.S.-Iran relations and Iranian culture. He?s sort of a square-peg-in-a-round-hole at Hoover because he leans about as left as you can at Hoover ? he wor

pnmilani_093_mac.jpg : : Abbas Milani is a Hoover Institution scholar who specializes on U.S.-Iran relations and Iranian culture. He?s sort of a square-peg-in-a-round-hole at Hoover because he leans about as left as you can at Hoover ? he works closely, for example, with Larry Diamond, who is known to be Hoover?s most liberal scholar ? Diamond just authored a book that is critical of the Iraq war. Milani would be an interesting profile not only because he?s a little out of place at Hoover but also because he has an interesting background. He started moving back and forth between the U.S. and Iran after college and grad school (he studied poly sci in the U.S., against his father?s wishes that he become a doctor). He was imprisoned, in the ?70s in Iran for his Communist leanings. He wrote a widely-regarded memoir about these times. He is a research fellow at Hoover, director of Stanford?s Iranian Studies Program, and co-director of the Iran Democracy Project. 10/11/05 in Palo Alto, {state.} Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle (Photo By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)