Reddit reviews A History of Modern Iran

The history of Iran is one of my favorite subjects. We in the US tend to view the entire Middle east as one monolithic culture, and learning about Persian/Iranian history really helps broaden one's perspective regarding US-Middle East relations.

So many fascinating subjects in Iranian history, from it's long and proud tradition of viewing itself as a coherent culture, which contrasts somewhat with the tribal nature of the Arabs, to the fledging democracy movement that was crushed in 1953 with a great deal of help from the CIA and Great Britain (which just might play into why our relationship with them isn't fantastic), to the current tensions within the country between the educated liberal youth, the religious Guardian Council, and the conservative forces around the military and Ahmadinejad.

My favorite intro book on the Iran is:

A Modern History of Iran by Ervand Abrahamian - a fantastic, and short, overview of Iran once it started modernizing with a few mentions of the deep cultural legacy of Persia.

Tl;Dr Mossadegh hated Brits and Russians because of the "Great Game." Led to anti-socialism and nationalized oil industry despite contemporary support for Marxism in some classes and surrounding nations.

Mossadegh was democratically elected. At the time, surrounding states were experimenting with Marxist ideologies. Given time, Iran would have done the same. In fact, the very revolution that would oust him had a strong connection to his hatred of socialism, historically speaking.

Iran had long been fought over by Russia and the British. Both wanted access to her oil reserves and the Gulf trade network. Britain also wanted to lay communications wires to India across the plateau. This was known as the "Great Game." As such, powerful Iranians (commoners couldn't care less) hated both Britian and Russia from the get-go.

Britian eventually "won" their influence and were able to lay lines and "steal their oil." Mossadegh's residual hatred toward the Brits is evident thru his nationalization of the oil companies - a process that was extremely controversial on the world stage - which directly led to British and American interference.

We can see the desire for change (as was in the developing Marxist states) in the revolutionary spark the Iranian public had back in the 50s. Though, what they received was not what they intended. The other Central Asian states have a tendency to follow Iranian leadership - as has been the case since Persian times. (Ie. Iran goes Islamist? Afghanistan goes Islamist. You get the idea.)

This type of "revolution" is not uncommon in the Middle East. We see the same thing 35 years prior with the Ottomans and T. E. Lawrence. New thoughts > stoked flame by outside forces > revolution > revolution completely hijacked > puppet government.

I've got a book around here about all of this but can't remember the title. I'll edit here when I find it.

Edit a History of Modern Iran

So it's clear to me that you don't really know all that much about Iran or the Iranian people, but I can suggest some reading material so that you can further educate yourself if you so choose to. I found these books to be quite informative.

1
2
3
4
5

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

a History of Modern Iran

---

^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

I recommend "All The Shah's Men" before this, but if you still want more info afterwards

https://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Iran-Ervand-Abrahamian/dp/0521528917/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8