Revolutionary Iran A history of the Islamic republic

Axworthy (Univ. of Exeter, UK) has written a comprehensive and excellent narrative of the events in Iran, particularly since the 1960s, that brought about the end of monarchy in 1979 and caused the take-over of the government by the ayatollahs. The author brilliantly explains the causes and consequences of the so-called Islamic Revolution in Iran, and provides the most accurate analysis of the course of the almost decade-long war between Iran and Iraq and how it has affected every aspect of Iranian history since then. Axworthy recalls the reformist attempts after Khomeini led by such religious leaders as Muhammad Khatami, and explains the causes of their failures. He concludes that the legitimacy of the Islamic regime in Iran was damaged by the "stolen" election of June 2009, but then, he argues, "when the regime still commands the loyalty of the security apparatus ... how much does it matter.... The stolen election ... may have taken Iranians closer to totalitarianism, but they are still not there yet." The book is well researched, well written, and informative, and should be considered as an indispensable resource for any one--scholar or otherwise--seriously interested in contemporary Iran. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. N. Rassekh emeritus, Lewis and Clark College

Lucid exploration of a nation caught between two seemingly contradictory ideals: democracy on one hand and Islamic fundamentalism on the other. Axworthy (Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies/Univ. of Exeter; A History of Iran, 2008) does not entirely rule out the possibility that those two poles can be aligned, but it certainly won't happen under those who still cherish the memory of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who rose to power following the fall of the shah in 1979. To illustrate just one example of Khomeini's ruthlessness, Axworthy relates the tale of Hassan Pakravan, a general in the shah's secret police, who intervened when Khomeini was condemned to death, "believing that it would cause further serious unrest among ordinary Muslims," and saw to it that Khomeini was well-fed while in prison. When Khomeini took power, he had Pakravan killed for his troubles. By the author's account, Iran has long been "revolutionary," undergoing a series of upheavals throughout the 20th century, including a revolution in 1908 that bound Iran to both Russia and Britain, the rise of the Mosaddegh government in 1951 and its overthrow by a CIA-engineered coup in 1953, and, of course, the events of 1979. He casts doubt on whether the most recent election was on the up and up, though he does note that fallen president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had fallen afoul of former allies even as his opponent, Ali Khamenei, "had an aircraft overhauled to ensure it was in good readiness to fly him out of the country at short notice" should Ahmadinejad win in a contest that served to underscore another aspect of life in contemporary Iran: namely, that "Iran had become a divided country." A wide-ranging, sympathetic presentation that explains much about the country, especially the reasons for its dislike of the United States and U.K.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.