Raised on a pistachio farm, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (born 1934) rose to become the most important political leader in revolutionary Iran. Known as a shrewd survivor, Iran's "smiling powerbroker" worked towards building a "kinder, gentler" Iran.

Akbar Hashemi was born in 1934 as the second of nine children of Ali Hashemi, a modest farmer and local clergyman in the remote Kermanian town of Rafsanjan--thus the family name, Rafsanjani. At age 14, Akbar Rafsanjani traveled to Qom to pursue advanced Islamic studies. He soon was involved in the "Devotees of Islam" agitation for nationalization of Iran's oil industry. After the demise of Premier Mussadiq's nationalist movement, Ayatollah Borujerdi, one of Rafsanjani's eminent mentors, prevailed upon clergy not to criticize politicians. During this period of quietism Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini had the greatest impact upon Rafsanjani's formal education, which resulted in his clerical recognition as hojatolislam, a rank just below an ayatollah.

With Borujerdi's...