MER Article Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985). Although this book is thin on analysis, it is filled with valuable details about political and economic developments during the first five years of the Islamic Republic. It is thus a good source book for information abo Eric Hooglund • 1 min read
MER Article Beck, The Qashqa'i of Iran Lois Beck, The Qashqa’i of Iran (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986). The Qashqa’is are a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes dispersed in the three southwestern Iranian provinces of Fars, Isfahan, and Bushehr. Historically, they have been one of the most important tribal groups in the Bahman Abdollahi • 2 min read
MER Article Ladjevardi, Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran Habib Ladjevardi, Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1985). Over the past few years we have witnessed a welcome development in new books on Iran. Instead of general histories, spanning centuries and big events, a number of books attempt to reconstruct small Afsaneh Najmabadi • 4 min read
MER Article Iran's New Grand Strategy The controversy over US-Iranian relations has implications as drastic for the government in Tehran as for that in Washington. The disputed character of the opening to Washington forced Majlis Speaker Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani to go public about the talks in early November. Even Ayatollah Khomeini him Fred Halliday • 5 min read
MER Article The Search for Iran's "Moderates" Revelations about secret talks and arms deals between the United States and Iran have focused attention on the internal politics of the Islamic Republic. The Reagan administration justifies its policy as an 18-month effort to reach out to “moderate elements” in the Iranian government. Eric Hooglund • 7 min read
MER Article Images of Iran Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet: Learning and Power in Modern Iran (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1985). Donne Raffat, The Prison Papers of Bozorg Alavi: A Literary Odyssey (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1985). Haleh Afshar, editor, Iran: A Revolution in Turmoil (Albany, NY: SUNY Pres Fred Halliday • 10 min read
MER Article From the Editors (November/December 1986) Top Reagan aides from the National Security Council and the CIA fly secretly to Iran atop crates of missiles, Bible in one hand and cake in the other. The image aptly captures the bizarre and dangerous character of Washington’s policies in the Middle East and Central America. Two of the men on the T The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Books on Women in Iran Guity Nashat, ed., Women and Revolution in Iran (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983). Farah Azari, ed., Women of Iran: The Conflict with Fundamentalist Islam (London: Ithaca Press, 1983). Azar Tabari and Nahid Yeganeh, eds., In the Shadow of Islam: The Women’s Movement in Iran (London: Zed Books, 1 Mary Hegland • 6 min read
MER Article Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1985). Fred Halliday • 1 min read
MER Article Major Kurdish Organizations in Iran Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) Martin Van Bruinessen • 4 min read
MER Article Iran and the Reagan Doctrine Gary Sick, All Fall Down: America’s Tragic Encounter with Iran (New York: Random House, 1985). Warren Christopher et al, American Hostages in Iran: The Conduct of a Crisis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985). Fred Halliday • 10 min read
MER Article Bakhash, Reign of the Ayatollahs Shaul Bakhash, The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1984). After the plethora of books seeking to account for the Iranian revolution, it is refreshing to find a volume which dares to tackle the complexities of the immediate post-revolutionary years an Annabelle Sreberny • 2 min read
