A History of Iran

Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465098770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
The definitive history of Iran, from the ancient Persian empires to today Iran is a land of contradictions. It is an Islamic republic, but one in which only 1.4 percent of the population attend Friday prayers. Iran's religious culture encompasses the most censorious and dogmatic Shi'a Muslim clerics in the world, yet its poetry insistently dwells on the joys of life: wine, beauty, sex. Iranian women are subject to one of the most restrictive dress codes in the Islamic world, but make up nearly 60 percent of the student population of the nation's universities. In A History of Iran, acclaimed historian Michael Axworthy chronicles the rich history of this complex nation from the Achaemenid Empire of sixth century BC to the revolution of 1979 to today, including a close look at Iran's ongoing attempts to become a nuclear power. A History of Iran offers general readers an essential guide to understanding this volatile nation, which is once again at the center of the world's attention.

Revolutionary Iran

Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199322260
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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

The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History

Author: Touraj Daryaee
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199732159
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
This handbook is a guide to Iran's complex history. The book emphasizes the large-scale continuities of Iranian history while also describing the important patterns of transformation that have characterized Iran's past.

Among the Iranians

Author: Sofia A. Koutlaki
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
ISBN: 0984247130
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
"A sympathetic and evocative portrait of the Iranian people, their habits, customs and histories ... Essential reading." - Dr. Stephanie Cronin, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford The eyes of the world are on Iran, from nuclear issues to women's rights to Iran's perspective on Palestine. Yet a strictly political view does not allow for an accurate or complete outlook on this important and facinating country. In Among the Iranians, Greek-born author Sofia A. Koutlaki shares the lessons she's learned firsthand as a foreigner living in Tehran. Through memorable anecdotes and in-depth explanations of Iranian customers, Koutlaki presentd a side of Iran that foreigners rarely see. The author's insight challenges readers to dispel their previous notions and judgements to see Iran at its heart - warm, inviting and rich with tradition. Among the Iranians is also an indispensable practical guide, offering insight about Iranian dress, etiquette and even food.

Iran

Author: Abbas Amanat
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300248937
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A masterfully researched and compelling history of Iran from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first

Iran: Empire of the Mind

Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141903414
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
Iran often appears in the media as a hostile and difficult country. But beneath the headlines there is a fascinating story of a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and enormous cultural importance. A nation whose impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbours in the Middle East but on the world as a whole – and through ideas and creativity rather than by the sword. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis and current president Mahmud Ahmadinejad – a controversial figure within as well as outside the country – Michael Axworthy traces a vivid, integrated account of Iran’s past. He explains clearly and carefully both the complex succession of dynasties that ruled ancient Iran and the surprising ethnic diversity of the modern country, held together by a common culture. With Iran again the focus of the world’s attention, and questions about the country’s disposition and intentions pressing, Iran: Empire of the Mind is an essential guide to understanding a complicated land.

America and Iran

Author: John Ghazvinian
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307271811
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 688

Book Description
"A history of the relationship between Iran and America from the 1700s through the current day"--

Iran

Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019023296X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
Since the beginning of recorded history, Iran/Persia has been one of the most important world civilizations. Iran remains a distinct civilization today despite its status as a major Islamic state with broad regional influence and its deep integration into the global economy through its vast energy reserves. Yet the close attention paid to Iran in recent decades stems from the impact of the 1979 revolution, which unleashed ideological shock waves throughout the Middle East that reverberate to this day. Many observers look at Iran through the prism of the Islamic Republic's adversarial relationship with the US, Israel, and Sunni nations in its region, yet as Michael Axworthy shows in Iran: What Everyone Needs to Know(R), there is much more to contemporary Iran than its fraught and complicated foreign relations. He begins with a concise account of Iranian history from ancient times to the late twentieth century, following that with sharp summaries of the key events since the1979 revolution. The final section of the book focuses on Iran today--its culture, economy, politics, and people--and assesses the challenges that the nation will face in coming years. Iran will be an essential overview of a complex and important nation that has occupied world headlines for nearly four decades.

The Empire of Mind

Author: Michael Strangelove
Publisher:
ISBN: 0802038182
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
Where many critics see the Internet as an instrument of corporate hegemony, Michael Strangelove sees something else: an alternative space inhabited by communities dedicated to anarchic freedom, culture jamming, alternative journalism, and resistance to authoritarian forms of consumer capitalism and globalization. In The Empire of Mind, "Dr. Strangelove," the scholar Canadian Business referred to as the "acknowledged dean of Internet entrepreneurs" and Wired called "the Canadian guru of Internet advertising," presents the compelling argument that the Internet and new digital communication technology actually undermine the power of capital, producing an alternative symbolic economy. Strangelove contends that the Internet breaks with the capitalist logic of commodification and that, while television produces a passive consumer audience, Internet audiences are more active, creative, and subversive. Writers, activists, and artists on the Internet undermine commercial media and its management of consumer behaviour, a behaviour that is challenged by the Web's tendency toward the disintegration of intellectual property rights. Case studies describe the invention of new meaning given to cultural and consumer icons like Barbie and McDonald's and explore how novel modes of online news production alter the representation of the world as it is produced by the mainstream, corporate press. In the course of exploring new media, The Empire of Mind also makes apparent that digital piracy will not be eliminated. The Internet community effectively converts private property into public, thereby presenting serious obstacles for the management of consumer behaviour and significantly eroding brand value. Much to the dismay of the corporate sector, online communities are disinterested in the ethics of private property. In fact, the entire philosophical framework on which capitalism is based is threatened by these alternative means of cultural production.

Ruling Minds

Author: Erik Linstrum
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674915305
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
At its zenith in the early twentieth century, the British Empire ruled nearly one-quarter of the world’s inhabitants. As they worked to exercise power in diverse and distant cultures, British authorities relied to a surprising degree on the science of mind. Ruling Minds explores how psychology opened up new possibilities for governing the empire. From the mental testing of workers and soldiers to the use of psychoanalysis in development plans and counterinsurgency strategy, psychology provided tools for measuring and managing the minds of imperial subjects. But it also led to unintended consequences. Following researchers, missionaries, and officials to the far corners of the globe, Erik Linstrum examines how they used intelligence tests, laboratory studies, and even dream analysis to chart abilities and emotions. Psychology seemed to offer portable and standardized forms of knowledge that could be applied to people everywhere. Yet it also unsettled basic assumptions of imperial rule. Some experiments undercut the racial hierarchies that propped up British dominance. Others failed to realize the orderly transformation of colonized societies that experts promised and officials hoped for. Challenging our assumptions about scientific knowledge and empire, Linstrum shows that psychology did more to expose the limits of imperial authority than to strengthen it.