Front cover image for A history of modern Iran

A history of modern Iran

From the Publisher: In a reappraisal of Iran's modern history, Ervand Abrahamian traces its traumatic journey across the twentieth century, through the discovery of oil, imperial interventions, the rule of the Pahlavi's and, in 1979, revolution and the birth of the Islamic Republic. In the intervening years, the country has experienced a bitter war with Iraq, the transformation of society under the clergy and, more recently, the expansion of the state and the struggle for power between the old elites, the intelligentsia and the commercial middle class. The author is a compassionate expositor. While he adroitly negotiates the twists and turns of the country's regional and international politics, at the heart of his book are the people of Iran. It is to them and their resilience that this book is dedicated, as Iran emerges at the beginning of the twenty-first century as one of the most powerful states in the Middle East
Print Book, English, 2008
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2008
History
xxviii, 228 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
9780521821391, 9780521528917, 0521821398, 0521528917
171111098
List of maps
List of illustrations
List of tables and figures
Chronology
Glossary
A political who's who of modern Iran
Preface
Introduction
1. 'Royal despots' : state and society under the Qajars
2. Reform, revolution, and the Great War
3. The iron fist of Reza Shah
4. The nationalist interregnum
5. Muhammad Reza Shah's White Revolution
6. The Islamic Republic
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading
Index