The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran [Paperback]

Roy Mottahedeh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1851686169 | ISBN-13: 978-1851686162 | Publication Date: December 16, 2008 | Edition: 2nd Edition

Drawn from the first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses, Roy Mottahedeh's absorbing tale of Islam and Politics in revolutionary Iran is widely regarded as one of the best records of that turbulent time ever written. This revised edition includes a new chronology detailing events in Iran from the revolution right up to the present day and Ahmadinejad's controversial regime. There is simply no better resource for understanding Iran's past, present, and future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Even with news breaking daily in Iran, the first book I send myself and other readers back to has to be Roy Mottahedeh's "The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran," which was first published in 1985. A professor at Harvard, Mottahedeh has written an intellectual history as stirring and graceful as any novel. He sets the intimate biography of a young cleric against the vast epic of Iranian thought from Zoroaster to Avicenna, Kasravi to Khomeini. "The Mantle of the Prophet" is literary, learned, and deeply felt; the writing is splendid, and the story is an education for the Western reader unaware of the powerful tides of Shi'ite and Persian thought over a period of centuries. -- The New Yorker, June 26, 2009

From the Publisher

"A masterpiece....[Mottahedeh exposes], with dazzling erudition, the subterranean Sufi and poetic heritage lying just below the surface of Khomeini's seemingly granitelike orthodoxy."--The New York Review of Books --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld; 2nd Edition edition (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851686169
• ISBN-13: 978-1851686162
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > History > Middle East > Iran
  • #28 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > History
  • #66 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Church & State

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that left a lasting impression, January 26, 2004

By 

Alessandro Bruno (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (Paperback)

I read The Mantle of the Prophet many years ago. OSmehow the Amazaon computer knew me well enough to reccomend it, and it brought back the impression that this book left me. It is wonderfully written and relates the mix of socio-economic events and the Shi'a culture that coalesced to foment the Islamic Revolution in 1979. However, the sense the reder gets while rapidly going through it, is that the book presents this very thoughtful and clear historical and sociological argument in the manner of a novel, you can't put the book down. This no ordinary academic text and Mottahedeh combines the skills and art of the poet and novelist with the clarity and facts of an academic. I have never read such an interesting and clear - devoid of controversy or criticism - description of what's it like to study in a Shiá Madrasa, to undertand the curriculum and the stages that a student must follow to become an Ayatoallah. Mottahedeh also offers a simple and brilliant, powerful description of the cultural contrast that existed between the supericially modern and wealthy cosmopolitan Teheran and the countryside, which supplied so many of the clerics that influenced the masses living on the fringe. This book is as invaluable to the specialist, and is an excellent complement to the socio-hiostorical classic text by Ervand Abrahamian "Iran Bewteen two Revolutions", yet it can also be read and enjoyed by the non-specialist just the same. This was, however I look at it, one of the finest books I've ever read in my life

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rise of learned, July 20, 2003

By 

Muzaffer Muctehitzade "hacibey" (Boston, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (Paperback)

Very comprehensive information about the shia, shia philosophy, development of learned in shia hierarchy and finally Islamic revolution in Iran. The story is written about a certain person as he grow up in Iran, got his education in religious centers and involved in the actions. The history and information are given as the situation requires background about it. It is very nicely written, easy to read entertaining and informative.
Sometimes I found names mixed, to many names with too different philosophies to keep up, so it is a fast book to read, time to time you may have to come back and repeat.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of Iran through one man's life story., December 9, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (Paperback)

Anyone with an interest in history,philosophy, religion, the Middle East, Iran, or human nature, would find this erudite, beautifully written, very readable and sensitive story of one man's life as a religious scholar in Iran, a thoroughly satisfying read. Iran's history from ancient times to the Revolution of 1979 is interwoven with the biography of a Shiah Islamic cleric. The book's strength comes from the author's clarity of expression and his deep and broad understanding of his subject.A wonderful book!