Provides insight into the political currents that led to the Iranian revolution.



Before late 1978 Iran did not occupy a large place in the public mind, mass media, or academic pursuits. With the massive upheaval of the next few months, all this changed-and the world is still trying to catch up with the dramatic events that brought Iran to its attention. This volume offers a much needed look into the historical, social, and political developments leading up to the Iranian revolution. Bringing together a group of scholars, historians, and social scientists, most of them Iranian in origin, the book documents an extraordinary revolutionary heritage that predates this century.





Each contributor examines a critical moment in Iranian social history-on its own terms as well as within a larger theoretical and comparative context. The topics they take up include:

•the Tobacco Rebellion of 1890-91

•the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11

•the rise of Reza Khan between 1921 and 1925

•the autonomy movement in Azerbaijan and Kurdistan after World War II

•the oil nationalization movement under Musaddiq between 1951and 1953

•the unrest of the 1960-63 period

•the Iranian revolution of 1977-79

•the state of Iran since the revolution



Thoughout, common themes emerge, especially the heterogeneous bases of Iranian social movements with respect to class, gender, and ethnicity, as well as the diverse discourses-nationalist, Islamic, socialist, populist, and radical-that have animated these movements. Representing a wide variety of perspectives and approaches, this volume provides crucial insight into the widely watched but poorly understood phenomenon of present-day Iran.



Contributors: Janet Afary, Purdue University; John Foran, University of California, Santa Barbara; Amir Hassanpour, Uppsala University; Mansoor Moaddel, Eastern Michigan University; Val Moghadam, United Nations University; Misgah Parsa, Dartmouth College; Sussan Siavoshi, Trinity University; Michael Zirinsky, Boise State University