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.




Twenty Years of Islamic Revolution


Book Description

The works gathered here are based on recent intensive fieldwork in Iran by leading scholars of Iranian culture. The contributors cover a multitude of important topics such as civil society, foreign relations, Islamism, religious-secular debates, and women's issues. These essays challenge stereotypes that have developed about modern-day Iran and will stimulate debate and discussion among scholars and students of the Middle East.




Foucault and the Iranian Revolution


Book Description

In 1978, as the protests against the Shah of Iran reached their zenith, philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and le Nouvel Observateur. During his little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. Accompanying the analysis are annotated translations of the Iran writings in their entirety and the at times blistering responses from such contemporaneous critics as Middle East scholar Maxime Rodinson as well as comments on the revolution by feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. In this important and controversial account, Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson illuminate Foucault's support of the Islamist movement. They also show how Foucault's experiences in Iran contributed to a turning point in his thought, influencing his ideas on the Enlightenment, homosexuality, and his search for political spirituality. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution informs current discussion on the divisions that have reemerged among Western intellectuals over the response to radical Islamism after September 11. Foucault's provocative writings are thus essential for understanding the history and the future of the West's relationship with Iran and, more generally, to political Islam. In their examination of these journalistic pieces, Afary and Anderson offer a surprising glimpse into the mind of a celebrated thinker.




Iran Today


Book Description

The Iranian Revelution of 1979 shook the world and changed the strategic balance in the region. In the build up to the Revolution there was a unity of purpose that was summed up by Ayatollah Khomenini: 'The monarchy must go. The Shah is corrupt. His hands are dripping with blood. He is a foreign agent. He is the Yazid of age.' In the perception of most Iranians, a tyrant has usurped the state; its retrieval was therefore essential. Beyond that, however, there was a little by way of an agreed agenda for social reconstruction. This became evident in the years that followed. Revolutionary passion first gave way to revolutionary reason and then reawakened desire for reforms.A quarter of a century later, demography, education and urbanization have become the agents of change. One generation has power while the other has demands. The purpose of the Observer Research Foundation's New Delhi conference was to explore the evolving perceptions and to ascertain the direction and pace of the change.




The Iranian Revolution


Book Description

Examines how the Iranian Revolution became a showdown between the ideas and values of Islam and those of the West and how it recast the face of the Middle East.




The Last Great Revolution


Book Description

Acclaimed journalist Robin Wright meticulously describes the ongoing transformation of Iranian society, politics and religion that ranges from the empowerment of women to the blossoming of a movie industry and an independent press. “An exceptional contribution to the understanding of a mysterious and much maligned nation" —The Washington Post Robin Wright has reported from over 120 countries for many leading news organizations, but her perceptive coverage of Iran has garnered her the most respect and praise among her colleagues. She demonstrates why Iran's Islamic revolution equals the French and Russian revolutions in new ideas and impact, while standing alone as "the last great revolution" of the modern era.




Iran


Book Description

Unlike much of the instant analysis that appeared at the time of the Iranian revolution, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution is based upon extensive fieldwork carried out in Iran. Michael M. J. Fischer draws upon his rich experience with the mullahs and their students in the holy city of Qum, composing a picture of Iranian society from the inside—the lives of ordinary people, the way that each class interprets Islam, and the role of religion and religious education in the culture. Fischer’s book, with its new introduction updating arguments for the post-Revolutionary period, brings a dynamic view of a society undergoing metamorphosis, which remains fundamental to understanding Iranian society in the early twenty-first century.




A Critical Introduction to Khomeini


Book Description

As the architect of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini remains one of the most inspirational and enigmatic figures of the twentieth century. The revolution placed Iran at the forefront of Middle East politics and the Islamic revival. Twenty years after his death, Khomeini is revered as a spiritual and political figurehead in Iran and in large swathes of the Islamic world, while in the West he is remembered by many as a dictator and the instigator of Islamist confrontation. Arshin Adib-Moghaddam brings together distinguished and emerging scholars in this comprehensive volume, which covers all aspects of Khomeini's life and critically examines Khomeini the politician, the philosopher, and the spiritual leader, while considering his legacy in Iran and further afield in other parts of the Islamic world and the West. Written by scholars from varying disciplines, the book will prove invaluable to students and general readers interested in the life and times of Khomeini and the politics that he inspired.




All the Shah's Men


Book Description

This is the first full-length account of the CIA's coup d'etat in Iran in 1953—a covert operation whose consequences are still with us today. Written by a noted New York Times journalist, this book is based on documents about the coup (including some lengthy internal CIA reports) that have now been declassified. Stephen Kinzer's compelling narrative is at once a vital piece of history, a cautionary tale, and a real-life espionage thriller.




SECRETS OF THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION


Book Description

This intriguing book by Manouchehr Bibiyan, producer and president of Los Angeles based JAAM-E-JAM Television Network, is a rare political document and a credible historical primary source on the history of modern Iran. Based on the many interviews of Mr. Manouchehr Bibiyan and his staff with Iranian public figures over the years, Secrets of the Iranian Revolution is a unique and rare glimpse behind the scenes of one of the most turbulent modern revolutions. Mr. Manouchehr Bibiyan, the producer and president of JAAM-E-JAM Television Network, continues to be a prominent, influential, active and permanent presence in the arenas of music, culture and politics as he has for the more than fifty-three years in Iran and the United States. He was born on November 22, 1933 in Tehran. After completing high school and higher education in Tehran and Tel Aviv, he soon contributed to the field of Journalism. Prior to the Iranian Revolution, Manouchehr Bibiyan was Iran’s biggest producer of Iranian music and for twenty-five years (1954-1979),he produced eighty percent of Iran’s music. During the Shah’s regime, Iran’s national radio and television produced about ten percent of Iran’s music. Therefore, throughout this period it primarily broadcast the music produced by Manouchehr Bibiyan’s music company, Apollon. As President of Apollon Music Company, he introduced the most successful and celebrated Iranian singers to the Iranian public. With the cooperation of young and talented songwriters and composers, Mr. Bibiyan introduced pop and jazz to Iranians, revolutionizing Iran’s music industry. During the Iranian Revolution and with the likelihood of the imminent establishment of an Islamic republic, Manouchehr Bibiyan left Iran and established residency in Los Angeles. In 1980, he founded Pars Video in orderto preserve Iranian music, language and culture outside Iran. A year later, in1981, in response to historic necessity, he founded JAAM-E-JAM Television. This medium was a bridge between the displaced Iranians in their first few years of exile and a link to the larger community in America. Within a few short years, JAAM-E-JAM Television was broadcasting its programs nationwide and currently it broadcasts worldwide via satellite. JAAM-E-JAM Television broadcasts a program entitled Tribun-e-Azaad (Open Forum) consisting of interviews conducted by the author, Manouchehr Bibiyan, and his staff with world leaders and political figures. Open Forum became a medium for recording, preserving and presenting the secrets of history. Both Iranian and world statespersons participated in the forum. For the first time in history, Iranian statespersons from the old regime of the Shah narrated the historical events and revealed the secrets of the causes and consequences of the Iranian Revolution for the hundreds of thousands of viewers of JAAM-E-JAM Television.