Reconstructed Lives


Book Description

Iranian women tell in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. The Islamic revolution of 1979 transformed all areas of Iranian life. For women, the consequences were extensive and profound, as the state set out to reverse legal and social rights women had won and to dictate many aspects of women's lives, including what they could study and how they must dress and relate to men. Reconstructed Lives presents Iranian women telling in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. Through a series of interviews with professional and working women in Iran—doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, secretaries, businesswomen—Haleh Esfandiari gathers dramatic accounts of what has happened to their lives as women in an Islamic society. She and her informants describe the strategies by which women try to and sometimes succeed in subverting the state's agenda. Esfandiari also provides historical background on the women's movement in Iran. She finds evidence in Iran's experience that even women from "traditional" and working classes do not easily surrender rights or access they have gained to education, career opportunities, and a public role.




The Making Of Iran's Islamic Revolution


Book Description

In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Dr. Milani offers new insights into the causes and profound consequences of Iran's Islamic Revolution. Drawing on dozens of personal interviews with the officials of the Islamic Republic and on recently released documents, he presents a provocative analysis of the dynamics and characteristics of factional politics in Islamic Iran. Among the new issues covered are the events leading up to the Teheran hostage crisis, Ayatollah Khomeini's life and writings, President Rafsanjani's activities against the Shah, Rafsanjani's recent reforms, Iran's involvement in the Kuwaiti crisis, and the domestic and foreign policy challenges facing Iran in the post?Cold War era.The second edition is specifically revised for use as a text for courses dealing with Iran, the Middle East, and revolutionary movements.




Revolutionary Iran


Book Description

In Revolutionary Iran, Michael Axworthy offers a richly textured and authoritative history of Iran from the 1979 revolution to the present.




Inside the Islamic Republic


Book Description

Goes beyond the media stereotype of fashionable parties in North Tehran to examine the quotidian realities of how society has evolved in Iran since the 1979 revolution.




Iranian Literature After the Islamic Revolution


Book Description

Analyses contemporary Iranian literature in both Iran and its diaspora, in relation to the social, economic and political fields.




Islamic Government


Book Description




44 Days


Book Description

Burnett was one of the few Westerners to stay and document the sudden fall of the Shah of Iran in 1978. "44 Days" re-creates the coup that led to a long hostage crisis, President Jimmy Carter's political demise, and an enmity still blazing after 30 years.




Montazeri


Book Description

This book looks at the historical context and political philosophy of the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a key figure in the Iranian revolution of 1978-9.




The Last Shah


Book Description

The surprising story of Iran's transformation from America's ally in the Middle East into one of its staunchest adversaries "An original interpretation that puts Iranian actors where they belong: at center stage."--Michael Doran, Wall Street Journal "For the clearest view of Iran for the last 100 years, this book is it."--Marvin Zonis, author of Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah Offering a new view of one of America's most important, infamously strained, and widely misunderstood relationships of the postwar era, this book tells the history of America and Iran from the time the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was placed on the throne in 1941 to the 1979 revolution that brought the present Islamist government to power. This revolution was not, as many believe, the popular overthrow of a powerful and ruthless puppet of the United States; rather, it followed decades of corrosion of Iran's political establishment by an autocratic ruler who demanded fealty but lacked the personal strength to make hard decisions and, ultimately, lost the support of every sector of Iranian society. Esteemed Middle East scholar Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many key events--including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini--significantly revising our understanding of America and Iran's complex and difficult history.




Shi'ism, Resistance, And Revolution


Book Description

The recent revival of interest in the Muslim world has generated numerous studies of modern Islam, most of them focusing on the Sunni majority. Shi'ism, an often stigmatized minority branch of Islam, has been discussed mainly in connection with Iran. Yet Shi'i movements have been extraordinarily effective in creating political strategies that have