Book Description
Combining detailed historical narrative with comprehensive analysis and explanation, Ali Ansari presents a new interpretation of the complex cultural polity that is modern Iran. Straddled between the world's two major energy basins, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, and possessing a rich reservoir of hydrocarbon resources as well as diverse minerals, Iran has always been economically significant. The Islamic Revolution thrust the country back onto the political centre-stage, and dramatically altered relations between Iran and the West. This book looks at these developments within an historical context. It charts how Iran sought to respond to the challenge of the West through reform and revolution, and to reverse the decline of the previous century with an ambitious program of development. This text offers a new interpretation of key events including the 1979 Revolution and the origins of the Iran-Iraq war. The author uses wide range of foreign and Persian sources including interviews with key players and shows how domestic and international events combined to produce certain outcomes. For readers interested in the Middle East.

From the Back Cover
Combining detailed historical narrative with comprehensive analysis and explanation, Ali Ansari presents a new interpretation of the complex cultural polity that is modern Iran. Straddled between the world's two major energy basins, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, and possessing a rich reservoir of hydrocarbon resources as well as diverse minerals, Iran has always been economically significant. The Islamic Revolution thrust the country back onto the political centre-stage, and dramatically altered relations between Iran and the West. This book looks at these developments within an historical context. It charts how Iran sought to respond to the challenge of the West through reform and revolution, and to reverse the decline of the previous century with an ambitious program of development. This text offers a new interpretation of key events including the 1979 Revolution and the origins of the Iran-Iraq war. The author uses wide range of foreign and Persian sources including interviews with key players and shows how domestic and international events combined to produce certain outcomes. For readers interested in the Middle East.

About the Author
Ali M Ansari is lecturer in the Political History of the Middle East at the University of Durham and an expert in Iranian affairs. He acts as consultant to business and policy makers and makes regular media appearances.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Straddled between the world's two major energy basins, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, and possessing a rich reservoir of hydrocarbon resources as well as diverse minerals and a large and growing population, Iran remains important in economic terms. However, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 thrust Iran back onto the political centre stage and dramatically altered the relationship between Iran and the West." Modern Iran Since 1921 places these developments in a historical context, and looks at how Iran sought to respond to the challenge of the West through reform and revolution, to reverse the decline of the previous century with a development programme that would catapult the country back into the top division. This new interpretation combines detailed historical narrative with comprehensive analysis and explanation of political, social and economic developments in Iran during the 20th century. It emphasises those factors which have helped shape attitudes and policies in an effort to explain the complex cultural polity that is modern Iran.

SYNOPSIS