Mining her rich Persian heritage with dry wit and a bold spirit, Firoozeh Dumas puts her own unique mark on the themes of family, community, and tradition. Explaining crossover cultural food fare, Dumas says, �The weirdest American culinary marriage is yams with melted marshmallows. I don�t know who thought of this Thanksgiving tradition, but I�m guessing a hyperactive, toothless three-year-old.� On Iranian wedding anniversaries: �It just initially seemed odd to celebrate the day that �our families decided we should marry even though I had never met you, and frankly, it�s not working out so well.� � Dumas also documents her first year as a new mother, the experience of taking fifty-one family members on a birthday cruise to Alaska, and a road trip to Iowa with an American once held hostage in Iran. Droll, moving, and relevant, Laughing Without an Accent shows how our differences can unite us�and provides indelible proof that Firoozeh Dumas is a humorist of the highest order.