Customer Reviews

Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Middle Eastern Studies)

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Visually, this book is beautifully produced and designed, and a joy to flip through. It's easily one of the very best fusions of contemporary Middle Eastern/Islamic history, politics and art that's been published. The text, though, is some of the densest bunch of lit crit, post-modern gibberish I've come across. Still, the visual half of the book succeeds brilliantly and makes it worth purchasing.

"Staging a Revolution" itself is a great `revolution' in depicting the complexity in showing the multitude of anti-Shah propaganda posters that were paraded during the 1979 Iranian revolution to depose that country's anemic monarchy. Not only does this book show pictures of dozens of anti-Shah revolutionary posters, but it also shows hundreds of other pictures as to how `Revolutionary Art' sustained the resulting autocratic mullaharchy with posters, stamps, banners, films, chewing-gum wrappers, bank notes and children's' artwork and other iconographic ephemera. Fortunately for us, the book also shows `Revolutionary Art' posters that bolstered the fighting spirits of Iranian soldiers during that country's war against the invading armies from Saddam Hussain's Iraq. Besides merely showing artwork, the author also explains why a reader needs to understand the significance of the Shia-Muslim "Ashura" religious factor: that was used by the clergy in goading the masses to revolt against the unjust `usurper' (the Shah) of the public will. This Shia-cleric instigated revolution wasn't about just overthrowing the monarchy, more importantly, it was about bringing the Ayatollah Khomeini to power to `cleanse' the government. Oh, yes, there are anti-Israel and anti-U.S. posters, also. I cannot give enough lavish praise to this book for its extensively exhausting depiction of Iranian political posters that I am so much interested in. Although of much less fulfillment, one may want to research "Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution" by Shiva Balaghi, and for a broader understanding of the significance of Ashura, see: "The Martyrs of Karbala" by K. Aghaie.

Surprised this book was published in 1999 and it took so long for me to find it or even hear about it. It's basically a textbook on the subject matter if you were to take a university course. Very well researched and full of great examples of Iranian political art. My father who was in the streets of Iran in 1979 really dived into the book and was really impressed by the objectivity as well. Thank you to the authors.

The authors have created a guide that serves towards understanding the antecedents to the revolution. The photographs, content and level of clarity is remarkable. It is tour de force. If interested in Persian studies, one needs to have it.