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Rating: 
Summary: Good, but Thackston is better.
Review: Elwell-Sutton's work was a standard for many years, but it suffers the ills of most Persian grammars in English: too little of everything. Too little explanation, especially of syntax, too little reading, too few exercises and no sound recordings. The paucity of syntactical explanation, e.g. the use of verb tenses, leaves holes in the student's understanding of how Persian grammar works.Wheeler Thackston's "An Introduction to Persian" has remedied all of these deficiencies and provides specific explanations and exercises for syntactical problems. The nine accompanying tape cassettes (available from a book dealer or from the publisher) reproduce all Persian that appears in the book and gives pauses for repetition--except for the twenty-five pages of Persian readings, which are read aloud at normal speed.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but Thackston is better.
Review: Elwell-Sutton's work was a standard for many years, but it suffers the ills of most Persian grammars in English: too little of everything. Too little explanation, especially of syntax, too little reading, too few exercises and no sound recordings. The paucity of syntactical explanation, e.g. the use of verb tenses, leaves holes in the student's understanding of how Persian grammar works. Wheeler Thackston's "An Introduction to Persian" has remedied all of these deficiencies and provides specific explanations and exercises for syntactical problems. The nine accompanying tape cassettes (available from a book dealer or from the publisher) reproduce all Persian that appears in the book and gives pauses for repetition--except for the twenty-five pages of Persian readings, which are read aloud at normal speed.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but dated
Review: While I agree with the majority of reviewers below that Wheeler Thackston's "An Introduction to Persian" is generally easier, and, for the student of the modern language, far far more up-to-date in idiom and vocabulary, Elwell-Sutton (which was the recommended reference book on my course when I studied Persian at Durham in 1999-2000) has two things at least to recommend it: it has a KEY TO THE EXERCISES included and an excellent section on Persian handwriting. I'd recommend it to the academic student of literary Persian.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best choice
Review: While more accessable than the frustratingly over-detailed Lambton, this book still focuses too much on archaic rules of grammar, often presented in an unintelligable manner. The reading excercises are outdated ie "His August Imperial Majesty opened..." and contain vocabulary which is questionably useful for the beginner. Because it is attempting to equip the reader to deal with classical as well as modern texts, much of the grammatical information and vocabulary is not necessary for active use, although this is not made clear and many modern usesages are overlooked or mentioned only in passing. Thackston is the book to use for the beginner who whishes to make quick and satisfying progress in the language and perhaps Lambton for those who want an obscure reference grammar. This book, unfortunately serves neither purpose adequately.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best choice
Review: While more accessable than the frustratingly over-detailed Lambton, this book still focuses too much on archaic rules of grammar, often presented in an unintelligable manner. The reading excercises are outdated ie "His August Imperial Majesty opened..." and contain vocabulary which is questionably useful for the beginner. Because it is attempting to equip the reader to deal with classical as well as modern texts, much of the grammatical information and vocabulary is not necessary for active use, although this is not made clear and many modern usesages are overlooked or mentioned only in passing. Thackston is the book to use for the beginner who whishes to make quick and satisfying progress in the language and perhaps Lambton for those who want an obscure reference grammar. This book, unfortunately serves neither purpose adequately.
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