Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$7.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Iran: A People Interrupted
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Iran: A People Interrupted [Hardcover]

Hamid Dabashi (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Price: $26.95 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Thursday, February 2? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover $26.95  
Paperback $14.00  

Book Description

March 1, 2007
A political and cultural history of Iran and an up-to-the-moment account of the latest "rogue nation" to make international headlines, by a preeminent scholar of Iran.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have thrust this increasingly powerful country into the international spotlight, attracting media attention to a degree not seen since the late 1970s, when a popular revolutionary movement toppled its pro-U.S. monarchy. Yet most people's knowledge of Iran stops short at the 1979 hostage crisis and the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. In this brilliant and lucid new historical narrative, a preeminent scholar of modern Iran fills a crucial gap in our understanding of the nation that has emerged as the United States' prime antagonist.

Hamid Dabashi, an internationally renowned cultural critic and scholar of Iranian history and Islamic culture, traces the full sweep of that country's history over the past two centuries with unprecedented analysis of key events, cultural trends, and political developments, up to the collapse of the reform movement and the renewed hostilities with the U.S. with the emergence of the new and combative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Destined to become the standard book on modern Iranian history, Iran: A People Interrupted is a deeply informed and eloquently written account of a national struggle for freedom and democracy against the overwhelming backdrop of the US military hegemony—one that will be of enduring, immediate, and urgent interest to anyone hoping to make sense of current events in the larger historical and regional contexts.

Includes discussion of such events as:
• The election of Ahmadinejad and the current nuclear showdown with the United States and Europe
• The rise of Iran as a major regional power challenging U.S. policy in the region
• The Salman Rushdie Affair of 1989
• The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88
• The U.S. hostage crisis of 1979-80
• The Islamic revolution in 1979
• The rise of the Soviet Union and the United States as superpowers, and the impact on Iran and the Middle East
• The emergence of Reza Shah as a tyrannical modernizer
• The emergence of Iran as a modern nation-state during the anticolonial struggles of the 19th century.

Destined to become the standard book on modern Iranian history, Iran: A People Interrupted is a deeply informed and eloquently written account of a national struggle for freedom and democracy against the overwhelming backdrop of the U.S. military hegemony—one that will be of enduring, immediate, and urgent interest to anyone hoping to make sense of current events in the larger historical and regional contexts.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran $19.95

Iran: A People Interrupted + Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran
  • This item: Iran: A People Interrupted

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Declaring at the outset that he has an "ax to grind," Columbia University professor Dabashi focuses on the last 200 years of Iranian history, through the lens of a worldly cosmopolitan. He rejects the familiar dichotomy between the "traditional" and the "modern" in Iran, arguing that it's at best ill-conceived and at worst a tool of European/American colonialism. Instead, Dabashi suggests the notion of an "anticolonial modernity," predicated on Iranians' struggles "against the colonial robbery of the moral and material foundations of [their] historical agency." While he raises many worthy questions, Dabashi's thesis is weakened by a lack of nuance. He also exhibits many of the flaws he decries, establishing, for instance, his own dichotomies ("for us the world was squarely divided into two opposing parts: those who ruled it and those who resisted this tyranny") and using a historical terminology to dismiss people, ideas or national projects with which he disagrees (e.g., equating Iran's Islamic Republic with America's "Christian empire"). Peppered alternately with delightful vignettes from his Iranian youth and dense academic-speak, the result is a book that may please those who agree with its author, but is unlikely to win over the uninitiated. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

An academically acclaimed and globally celebrated cultural critic, Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books and articles on Iran, medieval and modern Islam, comparative literature, world cinema, and the philosophy of art, among them: Theology of Discontent (1993/2005); Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future (2001); Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran (1999), an edited volume, Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema (2005) and Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema (2007).

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 324 pages
  • Publisher: New Press, The (March 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 159558059X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1595580597
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, August 4, 2007
This review is from: Iran: A People Interrupted (Hardcover)
I have ready many books on Iran and the Middle East. I had a difficult time finishing this one. There is a lot of grand standing and name-calling in this book, but in the end it is not clear what the point is. Yes there are facts about Iranian history here, but those are in any other standard book on Iran. Beyond that this is an angry book which is tedious to read and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


39 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Provacative but Unconvincing, April 10, 2007
This review is from: Iran: A People Interrupted (Hardcover)
Mr. Dabashi provides an account of Iranian "national" and political history beside a history of literature. I enjoyed this method.

This book would seem to be a very good platform for stimulating debate but, the vast majority of the authors contentions are contradictory.

For example, he states that after the Constitutional Revolution there were three primary political "streams" in Iranian culture which were inseperable and applying them as labels to players was "lame" and "lazy". He then goes on to apply individual labels to key players and outline the distinct trajectories of each "stream" over the course of Iranian history.

Much later, he proclaims the end of Islamic Ideology..and then goes on to show how radical clerics tightened their grip on Iran under Ahmadinejad. hmm. End indeed. It could be that this is a play on "The End of History"...and the great accuracy of that piece of work but, only time will tell.

He suggests that some folks who wrote a paper he disagreed with should have been tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. For writing a paper. And then laments the brutal, illegitmate theocracy in Iran. Oh the tyranny.

These are just a few examples, the book is riddled with these contradictory arguments. I think this stems from the fact that the author is deeply entrenched in domestic American politics and it permeates this book. He essentially devotes the opening two chapters and a major portion of the closing chapter to positioning himself within the American political spectrum. (aka, the sections have little to do with Iran or Iranian history).

The clincher for me though is his blatant dismissal of any person who does not agree with him. Any intellectual, no matter their background, he disagrees with it instantly labelled a "neocon". The author repeatedly laments the uselessness of "inorganic expatriate intellectuals"...which, of course, he is. Right? Afterall, he admits he has given up on the reformers, didn't vote last time around, and has essentially thrown in with Ahmadinejad.

I would be hard pressed to cite this book in a paper or recommend it to a friend.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


33 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars a weak book, June 3, 2007
This review is from: Iran: A People Interrupted (Hardcover)
This is not a well written book. It lacks clarity and is tedious to read. It also says little that is new. The one thing that distinguishes this book and makes it stand out is the hatred that Mr. Dabashi shows for virtually everyone. For those interested in mud slinging this book will not disappoint. It is at its best when Mr. Dabashi rants against his colleagues--often unfairly. I found Mr. Dabashi's langauge and name-calling appalling. If you want to learn about Iran skip this book, there are many more worthwhile books on the market that educate about Iran rather than settle score with people that the author does not like--which in this case is everyone.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(5)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Ceasar Warrington 2 Sep 12, 2007
See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject