Understand Modern Iran with one book

If you are to read only one book about modern Iran, I cannot imagine a better one is available. Half of the book is older history, and the other half deals with the 20th century (and a little bit more). This book will ground you to understand current Iranian affairs with some warranted confidence.

As the publisher says, the author discusses literature, music, arts, ideology, religion, economy and society, cultural identity, and heritage. This breathes life, context, and breadth into an understanding of modern Iran.

Thorough as it was, the book leaves me wanting more, although at the start I couldn’t imagine having the appetite for more about Iran than the girth this book offered. A greater focus on foreign relations of the Islamic Republic would be welcome to shed light on its nuclear ambitions, regional influence, and its strategy about Israel. Perhaps the historian does not have sufficient archival material to feel confident about these topics because they are so contemporary, but internal politics of the same period have been discussed nevertheless and unsparing judgments made.

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An exquisitely told story of a surviving and thriving nation.

This book offers a deep insight into the sociopolitically intriguing dynamics that evolve Iran as a modern nation while keeping it as a centrally united ‘mansion in the Middle East’ where it’s neighbors are still struggling to settle in the borders drawn on the sand.

The story is told in details but with such narrative structure and accessible prose that one can think of this book as a historical novel whose hero, the savior of the castle is art, poetry and relentless resistance to hegemony.

The most intriguing part of the story is how with factually accurate examples, the author illustrates that today’s Islamic Republic is in essence on the same nation building and foreign resisting path that the Safavid and Pahlavi kings have tried before.

I wish all diplomats and politicians who deal with Iran be mandated to read this timely and important book.

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Excellent history of Iran from Safavid era to near present.

The author digs a little deeper than most history writers in to the circumstances beyond the immediate political leadership. Looking and the culture and circumstances contributing to changes in Iran over the centuries. The coverage of the Islamic Revolution was particularly good and saddening as the people looked to the Ayatollah for deliverance, and ended up trading a bad tyrant for a far worst tyrant.

My only complaint was the lack of depth in covering foreign relations, especially in the post revolutionary era. Did Iran or did they not, and to what extent did the government fund terrorist groups and activity. The author does not even touch this issue.

Definitely recommend this book.

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2 people found this helpful

Fantastic Vignette into Irans Modern History

A foundational work for anyone interested in Iranian history and it’s tumultuous present.
The ending epilogue masterfully draws on common threads throughout ages and allows a reader with knowledge of current events to appreciate the qanat like undercurrents that have been in the making for centuries to surface.
The performance has frequent prononciation mistakes when reading the Farsi equivalent of some words but overall job well done!

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Wordy….

Off in tangents here and there…the end skips over the 8 year war with Iraq, and tends to lose it’s way thereafter.

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