A political and cultural history of Iran and an up-to-the-moment account of the latest "rogue nation" to make international headlines, by a preeminent scholar of Iran.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have thrust this increasingly powerful country into the international spotlight, attracting media attention to a degree not seen since the late 1970s, when a popular revolutionary movement toppled its pro-U.S. monarchy. Yet most people's knowledge of Iran stops short at the 1979 hostage crisis and the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. In this brilliant and lucid new historical narrative, a preeminent scholar of modern Iran fills a crucial gap in our understanding of the nation that has emerged as the United States' prime antagonist.

Hamid Dabashi, an internationally renowned cultural critic and scholar of Iranian history and Islamic culture, traces the full sweep of that country's history over the past two centuries with unprecedented analysis of key events, cultural trends, and political developments, up to the collapse of the reform movement and the renewed hostilities with the U.S. with the emergence of the new and combative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Destined to become the standard book on modern Iranian history, Iran: A People Interrupted is a deeply informed and eloquently written account of a national struggle for freedom and democracy against the overwhelming backdrop of the US military hegemony—one that will be of enduring, immediate, and urgent interest to anyone hoping to make sense of current events in the larger historical and regional contexts.

Includes discussion of such events as:

• The election of Ahmadinejad and the current nuclear showdown with the United States and Europe

• The rise of Iran as a major regional power challenging U.S. policy in the region

• The Salman Rushdie Affair of 1989

• The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88

• The U.S. hostage crisis of 1979-80

• The Islamic revolution in 1979

• The rise of the Soviet Union and the United States as superpowers, and the impact on Iran and the Middle East

• The emergence of Reza Shah as a tyrannical modernizer

• The emergence of Iran as a modern nation-state during the anticolonial struggles of the 19th century.

Destined to become the standard book on modern Iranian history, Iran: A People Interrupted is a deeply informed and eloquently written account of a national struggle for freedom and democracy against the overwhelming backdrop of the U.S. military hegemony—one that will be of enduring, immediate, and urgent interest to anyone hoping to make sense of current events in the larger historical and regional contexts.