A new edition of the definitive history of revolutionary Iran, essential for understanding the country today.
Michael Axworthy is the author of The Sword of Persia and Iran- Empire of the Mind, which established him as one of the world's principal experts on the country. He was head of the Iran Section of the British Foreign Office from 1998-2000 and senior lecturer and Director of the Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies at the University of Exeter. He died in 2019.
An impressive exploration of Iran's development since 1979 into an
unpredictable pseudo-democracy ... [a] calm and literate portrait
of the Islamic Republic * Guardian *
If you were to read only one book on present-day Iran you could not
do better than this ... Axworthy revokes the sound and fury of the
revolution itself -- Ervand Abrahamian * Times Higher Education
*
Balances scholarly precision with narrative flair ... Axworthy does
the best job so far of describing the Iran-Iraq war ... Axworthy's
analytical approach helps him demystify a revolutionary regime that
has needed to feed off myths. He revisits, and convincingly
reinterprets, defining moments of the Islamic republic ... [with]
scholarly rigour and first-class analysis. Anyone interested in
this most complex of revolutions would do well to read [this book]
* Economist *
Packed with gobbets of information and policy advice on how to deal
with Iran * Telegraph *
[A] meticulously fair and scholarly work ... passages from Iranian
authors little known in the west as well as references to both
popular and arthouse cinema bring depth [and] richness ... moving
and vivid ... a very fine work that deserves to be read by anyone
interested in the Middle East -- Jason Burke * Observer *
Axworthy is a true Iranophile, learned in history and literature
ancient and modern ... [A] subtle, lucid, and well-proportioned
history ... his method casts theocracy in a refreshingly cold
light, and embosses the Islamic Republic's well-established
subordination of faith to power * Spectator *
In this lucid, nicely written and well-paced work, Michael Axworthy
provides a compelling overview of contemporary Iran and its
relations with the outside world ... [Axworthy's] perspective is
far more persuasive, and interesting, than the neocon line that has
dominated the Iran debate * Independent *
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