Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Middle East in Focus) [Paperback]

Patrick Clawson (Author), Michael Rubin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403962766 | ISBN-13: 978-1403962768 | Publication Date: November 10, 2005 | Edition: First Edition

Exploring continuities and changes, this book provides the historical backdrop crucial to understanding how Iranian pride and sense of victimization combine to make its politics contentious and potentially dangerous. From the struggle between the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini to the current tension between the reformers and traditionalists, a central issue in Iranian domestic politics has long been its place in the world and relations with the West.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The book is ambitious in its scope and range…an accessible account of Iranian history and its present political dynamics…the book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Iranian history and politics, and its accessible prose renders it appealing to a wider audience.”--International Journal of Middle East Studies

"An essential guide to a country, and a foreign policy problem, that we ignore at our peril"

--Rich Lowry, Editor, National Review

"Eternal Iran is a sophisticated and subtle book, a seamless narrative of Iranian history and contemporary politics. A book of careful scholarship, yet accessible to a wide readership. One of the best accounts of recent years on that important and problematic country."--Fouad Ajami, Author of The Dream Palace of the Arabs

"For those looking at Iran and how it has evolved, the character and roots of its nationalism, the self image of its people and their attitude toward the outside world and the United States, and the potential for internal change away from stifling rule of the mullahs, there is no better book to read. Clawson and Rubin offer a clear picture of a people and a political culture that too often has seemed opaque to American observers."
--Ambassador Dennis Ross, Author of The Missing Piece: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace

From the Back Cover

"An essential guide to a country, and a foreign policy problem, that we ignore at our peril" --Rich Lowry, Editor, National Review

"Eternal Iran is a sophisticated and subtle book, a seamless narrative of Iranian history and contemporary politics. A book of careful scholarship, yet accessible to a wide readership. One of the best accounts of recent years on that important and problematic country."--Fouad Ajami, Author of The Dream Palace of the Arabs

"For those looking at Iran and how it has evolved, the character and roots of its nationalism, the self image of its people and their attitude toward the outside world and the United States, and the potential for internal change away from stifling rule of the mullahs, there is no better book to read. Clawson and Rubin offer a clear picture of a people and a political culture that too often has seemed opaque to American observers." --Ambassador Dennis Ross, Author of The Missing Piece: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403962766
• ISBN-13: 978-1403962768
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction, January 5, 2009

By 

Tim Mathews - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Middle East in Focus) (Paperback)

This is a very thin book covering a long period of time. The purpose of the book is to lay out the long history of Iran and empires that preceded it in order to help understand current events in context. It is not, nor do I think it was intended to be, sufficiently detailed to give you a solid understanding of any one period of Iran's long history. But it is a great introduction to starting your research. I would not recommend this book unless you follow it up with something that goes into more detail. But I also would not recommend other books that go into greater detail unless you read this one first. This book provides a very thorough and concise context.

12 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An easy read on a timely subject., March 2, 2006

By 

Thomas Brown - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Middle East in Focus) (Paperback)

This book is well documented (over thirty ages of footnotes and references) but is a quick and easy read (just 162 pages of text). Today Iran has become one of our most important foreign policy problems, and I believe that reading this book is an excellent way to get the historical background required to understand what is going on in that part of the world. Unfortunately it seems to have been proofread by a computer rather than a human being and here and there you will find a word which is obviously not the word the author intended. This is a minor flaw in an otherwise outstanding book.

10 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A more rounded picture of Iran, June 20, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Middle East in Focus) (Paperback)

The image many people have of Iran is of a nation of fanatical Islamic believers. This book comes to put Iranian society in historical perspective, and emphasize how strong the pre-Islamic Persian culture still is in Iran. As Rubin himself says in an interview in National Review, "Iran's history goes back millennia. It is important to recognize the historical patterns that shape Iranian state and society. We wanted to correct the faulty notion that the Islamic Republic is the natural state of things. Too many books written by academics in the year or two after the Islamic Revolution assumed that the Islamic Revolution represented the natural evolution of Iranian politics. It is now clear that the Revolution was an aberration. This raises the policy question: Should we do anything that helps prolong the system, or will we side with the vast majority of Iranians who hope for change? We can only win if the Iranian people win. And that means not striking any deal which will help preserve the status quo and a theocracy anathema not only to many Iranians, but also to so many religious Shiites."
In other words Rubin and Clawson here are echoing the line of Kenneth Timmerman who for some time now has been urging Administration support of dissenting forces in Iran. These by the way are not necessarily democratic forces.
As for the Iranian nuclear danger Rubin and Clawson are convinced that it is real indeed, and not necessarily because Washington is in danger of suffering nuclear attack tomorrow. The authors convincingly paint a picture of an emboldened nuclear Iran able to vastly increase its terrorist activities as it dominates the Gulf and the world oil situation.
This is an important and instructive book about a nation which under its present leadership is a real threat to Mankind.