Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran [Paperback]

Abbas Milani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2003

In the essays collected here, Abbas Milani uses an impressive array of cross-disciplinary Western and Iranian theories and texts to investigate the crucial question of modernity in Iran today. He offers a wealth of new insights into the thousand-year-old conflict in Iran between the search for modernity and the forces of religious obscurantism. The essays trace the roots of Shiite Islamic fundamentalism and offer illuminating accounts of the work of Iranian intellectuals -- both men and women -- and their artistic movements as they struggle to find a new path toward a genuine modernity in Iran that is congruent with Iran's rich cultural heritage. This book challenges the hitherto accepted theory that modernity and its related concepts of democracy and freedom are Western in essence. It also demonstrates that Iran and the West have more that brings them together than separates them in their search for such modern ideals as rationalism, the rule of law, and democracy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Milani shows that long before the European Renaissance generated the radical ideas that eventually reshaped Europe and the United States, Persian statesmen, artists, and intellectuals had formulated ideas that strikingly anticipate those of modernity.... Lost Wisdom is not only a powerful work of historical analysis; it is also a moving and eloquent account of a series of remarkable individuals, depicted with rare sensitivity and precision. This is an important book for readers eager to expand their intellectual horizons beyond the familiar cost of characters and ideas."

About the Author

Abbas Milani --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Mage Publishers (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934211906
• ISBN-13: 978-0934211901
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding work! A must read by all interested in Iran!, March 1, 2004

By 

Hamid R. Bahadori (Mission Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran (Paperback)

Dr. Milani has done it again! The "Lost Wisdom" is an outstanding achievement by Abbas Milano who is fast becoming the eminant scholar on Iranian history and political affairs, if not already there.

In his famous work, "The Persian Sphynx", Dr. Milano demonstarted his amazing capablities as an objective and thorough researcher of history. Despite the injustices that he as a political prisoner had suffered at the hadns of government agents controlled by the late Mr. hoveyda, Milani mainatined his academic honesty, and reported the former Prime Minister for what he really was.

In this book, Milani is so amazingly find the paralells and commonalities between the Irnaian thinkers and those of the "West." His masterpiece clearly shows the craving for individual liberites and human rights among all nations, races and times, albeit each in their unique molds.

The "Lost Wisdom", at these times that all those who love Iran are so desparately searching for a way out of the Islamic dictatorship without being labeld as having sold out to the "West", is the greatest intellectual contribution that any Iranian scholar could have made.

The native Iranina reader will so quickly identify with the passages and have that nostalgic feeling all over. Those with less familairity with Iranian history and culture will soon fall in love with the beautiful and elequont, yet easy, style of Milani's writing, and will follow page after page.

My sincere thanks and congratulations to Dr. Milani for this wonderful piece of literary work.

Hamid Bahadori
Mission Viejo, California

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LOST WISDOM, August 23, 2010

By 

kambiz B - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran (Hardcover)

Lost wisdom
Rethinking Modernity in Iran
Dr. Abbas Milani in his book, in a collection of several essays written since 1991, embarks to dislodge the Islamist main argument against modernity in Iran which they proclaim modernity is the pretax of western foreigners for colonial and cultural domination. Dr. Milani, himself a product of modernity in Iran, graves to prove modernity has its seeds in Iran for centuries and nurtured by most learned Iranians. The foundation that he builds for his argument starches from ancient Persia to modern time. He bases his thesis on individuals who left ample proof of his reasoning. There are shining moments recorded in history of many nations. And Dr. Milani, by his research and foresight, presents these shining moments of Iranian history discernable for its modernity proclamation and its failed attempts to permeate to Iranian national mentality.

[...]

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding Read: Milani Will Win U Over With Wit and Content, April 13, 2004

By 

Lily Sarafan (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran (Paperback)

By illustrating that Modernity and its accompanying social, literary and political structures are not only relevant but also historically germane to Iran, Dr. Milani has dispelled the familiar notion that Modernity is a Western phenomenon and its adoption by Iranians, therefore, a confession of inferiority. The 'modern' format of the book - a series of biographical sketches -- is judiciously employed to cover substantial ground from the discussion of Sa'di as a harbinger of democracy and equality to that on the plight and role of the Iranian diaspora in its exiled state. This work is a must-read for anyone interested in Iran, modernity or world history in general. Dr. Milani's anecdotal style captures readers' attention, even those who are entirely unfamiliar with the subject matter. He is as brilliant an author as he is a professor and researcher. This work is an incredible contribution to academia and the global pool of knowledge. In fact, I have yet to read something of Dr. Milani's that is not superb.