Iran

Both revolutionary and reactionary, the Islamic Republic of Iran has long been a conundrum for Western observers. A theocracy that aspires to a popular mandate; an anti-colonial state with imperial pretensions of its own: modern Iran is in many ways a reflection of its struggle to reconcile its traditions with the challenges of modernity.

In this book, Ali Ansari takes readers on a journey through Iran's turbulent history. Beginning with the country's fall from grace as a Great Power in ...