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Iran

A Modern History

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Iran

By: Abbas Amanat
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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About this listen

This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.

Abbas Amanat combines chronological and thematic approaches, exploring events with lasting implications for modern Iran and the world. Drawing on diverse historical scholarship and emphasizing the 20th century, he addresses debates about Iran's culture and politics.

Political history is the driving narrative force, given impetus by Amanat's decades of research and study. He layers the book with discussions of literature, music, and the arts; ideology and religion; economy and society; and cultural identity and heritage.

©2017 Yale University (P)2018 Tantor Asia Middle East Modern World Iran War Socialism Soviet Union Middle Ages Africa Ancient History Imperialism Self-Determination Military Ottoman Empire Capitalism Civil War Armed Force Russia Taxation Modern Iran
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Very good overview of the past 500 years of Iranian history. I bought this as I wanted to understand how the Islamic Republic came to be, and I ended up with a far greater understanding of Iranian history and culture than I had anticipated.

After reaching the chapters set in the 1980s and 90s, and the atrocities committed by the IR, it has given me a greater appreciation of the courage of contemporary Iranians trying to survive the regime.

Now I'll move on to pre-Islamic Iranian history, to cheer myself up a bit!

Very informative and insightful overview of Iran

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This is a thorough, comprehensive serious and scholarly work, discussing the evolution of Iranian socio-economic history from the Safavid period to the present day.
I found the 19th and 20th century accounts most interesting. Although there is a leitmotiv of the various dynasties seeking legitimacy by harping back to the Safavid period, I would have been equally happy had the book started with the Qajar dynasty.
The book is particularly well read and although there are some slight mispronunciations, it's as good a reading as any non-Persian speaker could have rendered.

An excellent scholarly work

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The historical events and contexts are quite well explained and the book is overall very enjoyable and instructive.
It is particularly interesting that many linguistical and etymological links are made between the persian language and english. However if you are going to make it a significant part of your book, please find a narrator who can pronounce the persian words correctly. There is a persian name or word and a linguistical comment on it on average every two minutes but the narrator is entirely incapable to pronounce even a single word right. Even one syllable words. It is extremely frustrating that the quality of a carefully crafted source of knowledge would be undermined by its broadcasting medium. This is as if you would read the book but every persian word has been replaced with random nonsense.

I don’t know how this works but as an editor please choose narrators that are competent for the particular task. Or as a narrator maybe seek more advice.

I want to clarify that the narrator has a very pleasant calm british voice and does a wonderful job EXCEPT for anything in farsi.

Great book bad persian pronounciation

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One of the most comprehensive books, entailing all detailed aspects of foreign, social, local and religious influences on iranian politics. The book is very engaging, bringing different aspects and layers of each era of Iran’s history into life. The only problem I had was with certain parts if the narrator. As much as I fully enjoyed Derek Perkin’s narration, there are certain names that he fully mispronounces on some occasions and pronounces fully correct on others. The inconsistencies are annoying. Also some names are lazily mispronounced (not too difficult to double check). Other than that, 5 stars!

One of the most comprehensive, detailed, unbiased and informative books on all aspects of modern history of Iran

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chapter 14. 39:03 there is a sound cut with some words missing.
Interesting to know the history of Iran

insightful Iran

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