A sympathetic portrait of the revolutionaries of Iran documents how holy warriors successfully removed the Shah from power, fought the forces of Saddam Hussein, and gained the enmity of the West before losing much of their public fervency, in a volume that offers insight into the mullahs, academics, traders, mystics, and others who comprise their numbers today. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.
Read More
The history of Iran in the late twentieth century is a chronicle of religious fervor and violent change -- from the Islamic Revolution that ousted the Shah in favor of a rigid fundamentalist government to the bloody eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. But what happened to the hostage-takers, the suicidal holy warriors, the martyrs, and the mullahs responsible for the now moribund revolution? Is modern Iran a society at peace with itself and the world, or truly a dangerous spoke in the "Axis of Evil"?Christopher de Bellaigue, a Western journalist married to an Iranian woman and a longtime resident of a prosperous suburb of Tehran, offers a stunning insider's view of a culture hitherto hidden from American eyes, and reveals the true hearts and minds of an extraordinary people.
Read Less