I had more than a little respect for Mr Steves in his logical, common-sense approach and research for tourism and travel. Then he did an hour-long pean to travel in Iran (2009) that castigated the US for irrational antagonism towards theocratic Islamic Republic. I may have missed it, but the months-long Iranian protests against rigged internal elections seemed to generate no retraction from the honorable Mr Steves. I would like to ask this idiot his current opinion on touring Iran after the multiple-year sentences for two, very disputable border violations.
Crickets ... /S
I have pretty much stopped using his guidebooks because he seems to be unable to prevent himself from making snide comments about churches, particularly Catholic churches, and presenting history from a strange anti-Catholic/anti-Christian point of view. Since most European countries have many churches and a long Catholic history, this gets a little annoying.
Not surprisingly, however, he seems to have a soft spot for Islamic theocracy. All lefties do.