Customer Reviews

Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979 (2 Volume Set)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What was the "White Revolution"? Who established SAVAK? What happened to Mossadegh? I was born in Iran and always learned different aspects of what actually happened in our history depending on the regime. At school, we always learned that Shah was an angel who was send to save the country. After the revolution, all we learned was that he was a liar and a "foreign puppet". This book gave me a clear idea of who were the brilliant individuals who built the infrastructure in Iran and turned it into an (almost) independent country. I definitely encourage everyone to read these books.

I know for a fact that the majority of people in this book have passed away. So how can the last reviewer claim the author was paid to write about these people?! Also his account of about 30-40 people in his book was an unfavorable account ... hardly the type of commentary one would pay to have published about themselves.

I highly recommend these books. As always, Dr. Millani has done a great job. I only wished Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, was included in the list. No matter what is your political conviction, it is a historical fact that he did a lot for the modernization of Iran.

It is such a shame that eminent historians such as Paul Preston and Orlando Figes write about Spain and Russia, respectively, with such a high degree of objectivity, erudition and an approach which is beyond reproach, whereas historians and political scientists writing on Iran are either hopelessly stuck in the leftist paradigms of the 1960s or like Abbas Milani offer nothing but second rate scholarship. "Eminent Persians", stories of prominent Iranians of the Pahlavi era is filled with innuendo, hearsay and slander. As a previous reviewer has commented, rumours are rife that Mr. Milani has been paid by certain individuals with their own personal vendettas. Let us hope that is not the case.

Dr. Abbas Milani is without a doubt a great historian of thousands of years of ancient to contemporary Iran (Persia). Future Iran will owe much to his efforts of life-time activism for democracy and for his great writings. His writings are well researched and well documented histories narrated based on the modern rules of journalism, telling "good, bad and ugly". This is how history should be narrated. Interesting perspectives found in his writings are usually Persians' viewpoints, and also their quests for a future Iranian democracy.

"Eminent Persians" is another fantastic work of Dr. Milani about the men and women who made history in Iran of the 20th century to 1979. This includes biographies of those whose contributions whether good or bad would not have been otherwise known to the future generation (if not documented). The bographies cover eminent figures such as politicians, scientists, woman activists, religious personalities and scholars (Zoroastrians, Secularists, Muslims, Bahais, Jews, Christians, others), athletes, poets, industrialists and many others.

Michael Navabi

This is another great book by Dr. Milani. In Iran there has always been a lack of objectivity in social, political matters. Leadres are judged more on hearsays and innuendos rather than their success or the results of their actions or inactions. It is therefore that Dr. Milani's work is extremely valuable not only for documenting the lives and accomplishments of so many distinguished and noble characters but also in opening the doors and leading the way of research and objectivity in such matters.
I'm sure others will follow. this is good news for Iran and Iranians.

First, I'd like to acknowledge this would be a positive review, hopefully not a skewed one. No, I neither know the author personally, nor financially supported this publication. However, I believe we have suffered from lack of scholarly written books about history of modern Iran. Also and on a more "socio-psychological" basis, in times when Iranians as a people are under constant international scrutiny and criticism, publications as such would help empower the sense of identity especially among the young generation and would function as a constructive buffer in the current 'not-so-positive' political climate.

Abbas Milani - as an author/scholar and regardless of his political views - has now proven in multiple occasions that he has the right tools to accomplish this daunting task. The Persian Sphinx, Amir-Abbas Hoveyda's biography simply stands on its own as a proof to this claim.

So far I've finished almost half of Eminent Persians, and would summarize what I like/dislike about this book:

Pros: more objective and scholarly written compared to similar books, an overall non-dogmatic approach towards history makers as people regardless of the "myths" or malicious gossips around them, concise and readable, somewhat inclusive and yet exclusive...

Cons: Some very eminent figures are missing (just to name one: Ahmad Shamlou, etc.), heavily biased towards political figures and unfortunately science, medicine, sports, and arts are greatly under-represented, absence of pictures, etc.

I'd definitely like to own a second edition where these issues are taken care of. Also, would be very interested to see a sequel to this book, i.e. Eminent Persians after 1979. Overall, it's been an excellent read so far. I would write a full review when finished the entire book.

I have read a fair amount from this book. The beauty of these two volumes is that they provide English-language narratives on certain individuals whom one would probably be hard pressed to find information on outside the realm of Persian-language publications. This is particularly great for US readerships, particularly individuals of Iranian heritage raised outside Iran who do not have the reading skills or patience to read such information in Persian.

I agree with the previous reviewer that the two volume set could have benefitted greatly from pictures and some more biographies - the general feel I get from others is that key individuals are missing. Given its reference format, it would have also been nice to have some concise "biodata" at the top of each profile as well, and maybe some timelines. I also agree with the previous reviewer in that it would be interesting if the author takes it upon himself to write a similar treatise on important post-revolutionary individuals inside and outside Iran.

This book is very interesting and a great gift for any lover of Iranian history. Whatever slant the author may have taken, the individuals the book covers were in their own right of some importance in shaping modern Iran (good or bad) and this book helps highlight famous and infamous individuals who are often not mentioned in the scores of other books written about this era.

I guess all books have an agenda. Who knows what agenda's this unbalanced book has. I give it 1 star because it is effective in pursuing propaganda, while not being particularly fair.

People with limited knowledge on Iranians during this period will sadly be the most misled and should know that the book does not accurately represent history due to both what it says and leaves out.

Leaving out leaders that had an immense impact on modern Iran makes this a work of fiction in a way also. Consider reading a book about "the leaders of the USA who made America during world war 2" and having the author leave out President Roosevelt, General Ike and Admiral Nimitz, but include Chester Bowles, who I admit was somewhat significant.

Persians deserve the best not this.

This book suffers from poor scholarship. It is based on innuendo and hearsay.
The articles are more appropriate for a gossip magazine. It is unbearable to read the lives of so many people diminished without any valid documentation.
This book is a failure, because the author only honors those individuals who are his friends and have financially contributed to the publication of the book.