Search results for ""author abbas milani""

Though his monarchy was toppled in 1979 and he died in 1980, Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlevi, the last Shah of Iran, remains relevant today. He was a social reformer, a romantic egomaniac, and a deeply conflicted man and leader. Here, internationally respected author Abbas Milani gives us the definitive biography, more than ten years in the making, of the monarch who shaped Iran's modern age and with it the contemporary politics of the Middle East. The Shah's was a life filled with contradiction - he built schools, increased equality for women, and greatly reduced the power of the Shia clergy. He made Iran a global power and nationalized his country's many natural resources. But he was deeply conflicted and insecure in his powerful role. Intolerant of political dissent, he was eventually overthrown by the very people whose loyalty he so desperately sought. This comprehensive and gripping account shows us how Iran went from politically moderate monarchy to totalitarian Islamic republic. Milani reveals the complex and sweeping road that would bring the United States and Iran to where they are today.

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The inner workings of Iranian politics, as experienced by two key figures at their center, are revealed as never before through the meticulously preserved documents and photographs in the Ardeshir Zahedi Papers at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. These materials are essential for understanding modern Iranian history and its global context.These archives were preserved over the course of two illustrious careers: those of Ardeshir Zahedi, Iran's ambassador to the United States and United Kingdom and minister of foreign affairs; and his father, Fazlollah Zahedi, military general and prime minister of Iran after the 1953 overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh.Abbas Milani, American-Iranian historian and an expert in US-Iran relations, has sifted through these archives to select resources of unparalleled value and fascination for understanding Iran’s politics, culture, and history—both before and after the 1979 Revolution that toppled the shah and sent him and the younger Zahedi into exile.Published for the very first time, the papers and photos included here are connected with many of the key events and figures of the twentieth century. They are indispensable primary sources for scholarship on modern Iranian history as well as intriguing studies on the mechanisms of international diplomacy.

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This critical review of the history of America's relations with Iran shows how little of the two countries' long and complicated relationship is reflected in the foundational axioms of the "Great Satan" myth. The author explains why meaningful and equitable relations can begin only after the two nations have arrived at a common, critical, and accurate reading of the past.

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