A few months back, I had only a superficial modern media-based understanding of Iran.
Based on misinformation from the past, I had thought Iran/Persia had had a great history before modern times. One very different from the current fanatical Islamic dictatorship.
Iran's worst troubles seemed to have come about because of the revolution against the Shah and the U.S. in 1979 and the previous overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran by the U.S. CIA in 1953 which had put the current Shah in power.
But in this deep, biographically detailed, suspenseful, reflective history by the brilliant scholar Abbas Amanat, I quickly learned that these modern events were but a horrific continuation of hundreds of years of immoral and unjust actions by religious and secular Iranian leaders.
And that often Iran has suffered repeated invasions, manipulations, destructions, and slaughters by other nations.
The U.S. overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953 was only the latest in hundreds of years of destructive actions by other nations against Iran. By far the worst invasions of foreign powers were the attacks covering several hundred years by the British Empire and Czarist Russia.
Also, tragically, like so many nations in history, Iran's dictatorial leaders often lived in arrogant, self-centered opulence, extravagant glut, and were guilty of vicious actions oppressing the poor illiterate masses, leveling oppressive taxes on farmers, etc.
While outwardly the aristocratic leaders claimed to adhere to Shia Islam, strongly supporting the fanatical mullahs in their persecution and executing of Iranians, the leaders actually lived degenerate, evil lives contrary to what any civilized human would do.
Even dictators who accomplished much that was good for average Iranians were sociopathic in their behaviors. For example after the Great War, Reza Shah came to power (1925-1941), restricted the oppression of Islamic mullahs, modernized the crimial code and economics of the nation.
But he was very paranoid like Stalin of the Soviet Union, cruel, and draconian in his actions to make Iran a modern secular society. One might call him a secular mullah.
HOWEVER, despite these hundreds of years of civil wars, oppressions, persecutions, small movments for justice, compassion, and human rights sometimes managed to arise. One of the most exciting, inspiring movements was the democratic one before the Great War!
IF only modern Iranians could overcome the present oppressive theocracy of the mullahs and begin again plans for a democratic, human-rights based society.
IF you have any interest in the Middle East and its complex history, don't miss this tour de force.
Best history I have read since The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World--1788-1800 by the historian Jay Winik.
from Amazon blurb: "Political history is the driving narrative force, given impetus by Amanat's decades of research and study. He layers the book with discussions of literature, music, and the arts; ideology and religion; economy and society; and cultural identity and heritage."
©2017 Yale University (P)2018 Tantor
In the Light of Goodness, Truth, and Justice,
Dan Wilcox
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