Exiled Iranian journalist Nazila Fathi on fleeing her homeland

Nazila Fathi was a nine-year-old girl when revolution transformed her homeland. She spent her life telling the stories of Revolutionary Iran to the outside world as a journalist... until being forced into exile herself five years ago. Today, Nazila Fathi takes us inside modern Iran.

January 16th, 1979 ... the day the Shah of Iran fled the country.

It was only a couple weeks later that the Ayatollah Khomeini did, in fact, return to Iran from exile. The former regime would fully collapse on the 11th of February 1979. And the Iranian revolution created a seismic shift in the politics of the region and beyond.

It also marked the beginning of a new era in the intimate lives of Iranians.

Nazila Fathi was just a child when the Revolution swept through her homeland. She came of age during a period of tremendous political and social upheaval. And she carved a space for herself in that society as a journalist -- reporting stories inside Iran to the outside world.

That is until 2009. She was working as correspondent for the New York Times, covering the Green Uprising, when she had to flee the country.

Nazila Fathi's new memoir is called "The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran." She was in Washington.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Kristin Nelson.