This authoritative and comprehensive history of iran covers the entire history of the area from the ancient persian empire to todays iranian state. This article is concerned with the history of the ancient persian empire, in which presentday iran has its roots. From fiction to memoirs and historical profiles, weve got the 10 mustreads based on iran. Whether youve been to iran or still have it on your bucket list, you can brush up on the countrys culture, history, and psyche of the people through a good book. The heart of the persian empire of antiquity, iran has long played an important role in the region as an imperial power and as a factor in superpower rivalries. The best examples of such remnants are the bronze cup of arjan, khusraw ghobadan and ridek text, and the book of altaj. The account of the nineteenth century is particularly vivid. Iran history books, persian politics, poetry, literature, and art. On the 40th anniversary of that momentous event, weve compiled some recommendations on. Books allow you to travel to faraway places without leaving your home. Finally, the rivers of iran, racing swiftly through. As a result of the history between the two countries, many aspects of american culture are already quite familiar to iranians. Mage publishes englishlanguage books about persian culture, cookbooks, history, biography and autobiography, music and poetry, translations of literature, books on architectural studies, and childrens tales. How persian literature shaped the culture of iran and india.
For the history of the region before the 7th century, see ancient iran. So i took myself on a literary exploration of iran. The books i read spanned over years of persian culture and included classics as well as popular fiction. Books to introduce kids and teens to the history and culture of iran by devon a. As i savored the crunchy top layer of rice and the extraordinary flavor of a dish the rest of my. Even after the revolution, it is common for iranians to travel back and forth visiting family since many families were split during the revolution some stayed under the new regime and some fled mostly to the u. For a detailed description of the persian empire, see persia. Iran s revolution has inspired countless books, articles, films, and commentary. Culture of iran youth series, anahita productions, canada, 2012. With iran again the focus of the worlds attention, a history of iran is an essential guide to understanding this volatile nation. It heavily focuses on intellectual and cultural history, and at times the details of the political history get ignored, but any survey this ambitious must make cuts. Early history to the zand dynasty iran has a long and rich history.
The samanids become the first truly iranian group ruling iran until 999. From them also, thrust up in the wake of the volcanic activity of late pliocene times, came diorite and obsidian, both highly prized in antiquity. A history of iran, one of several recent books that aim to draw back the gloomy curtain of recent events, aims to increase the general readers awareness of the richness and uniqueness of the iranian heritage. A continuing theme in persian culture is whether iran should be primarily iranian or primarily islamic. The arab invasion of iran made a break with the past that affected not only iran but all of western asia and resulted in the assimilation of peoples who shaped and vitalized muslim culture. By ervand abrahamian 2 for a more in depth and scholarly works, abrahamians iran between two revolutions is a classic.
Abbas amanat is an authority on iranian culture and political history. A veritable renaissance and reformation are under way in virtually every aspect of the cultural, social, aesthetic, sexual, and even religious canvas of iran. Chelo kabab persian food, iranian cuisine there is not much left from the iranian cuisine of preislamic iran, and the ones that remain belong to the court of kings and nobles. What are the best books to read about the modern history. What to read to understand the 1979 iranian revolution. The history of iran presented in her book is not exactly objective, but no matter. Persian becomes the official langue of the court and replaces arabic. The book shahnameh has been instrumental in the revival and continuity of the persian language and culture. The books are written and published not inside iran, whose bibliophobic government has killed many writers and their words, but abroadnot in persian, but in english and french.
He explains clearly and carefully both the complex succession of dynasties that ruled ancient iran and the surprising ethnic diversity of the modern country, held together by a common culture. Ahmad noori according to ancient texts, jamshid the fourth pishdadi king was the person to establish the custom of bathing with hot and cold water. Kamin mohammadis top 10 iranian books books the guardian. The first sentence of prominent iranologist richard nelson fryes book on iran reads. Iran s majority centrallyplanned economy depends upon oil and gas exports for between 50 and 70% of its revenue. List of books and articles about iranian history online.
History of persian food iranian cuisine persia advisor. Sharma, it is my great pleasure to have an interview with you regarding medieval persian literature. It was said that during his reign, which lasted for a long time, no plant withered and no living creature died. Sunil sharma interviewed by maryam kamali iranian medieval history sunil sharma is the associate professor of persianate and comparative literature at boston universitys department of modern languages and comparative literature dear prof. This article discusses the history of iran from 640 ce to the present.
Iran, a mountainous, arid, and ethnically diverse country of southwestern asia. My first exposure to iranian culture was the delicious tahdig my friends mother would make when i was lucky enough to be invited to dinner. The history of iran presented in her book is not exactly objective but no matter, these books are funny and moving. The best way to make sense of the complicated history of iran is to see it as the interplay of a set of cultural patterns and tensions, some of them going back to ancient times. Cultural dialogues in postmodernity and tradition, 1990. Culture of iran history, people, clothing, traditions. A captivating guide to the barbarians of iranian origins and how these ancient tribes fought against the roman empire, goths, huns, and persians. This week in the magazine, laura secor, who is a contributor and is working on a book about iran, wrote a comment about mirhossein moussavi and ayatollah ali khamenei. A memoir of growing up iranian in america by firoozeh dumas, lipstick jihad. The baltimore sun winner of the worlds best wine history book for 2007 gourmand prize for from persia to napa one of the most extraordinary and.
Farideh goldin, 2004 there has been an explosion of memoirs by iranian women writers since the iranian revolution of 1979. Search the worlds most comprehensive index of fulltext books. Iranian culture has long been a predominant culture of the middle east and central asia, with persian considered the language of intellectuals during much of the 2nd millennium, and the language of. Michael axworthy, a former british foreign service officer and a lecturer in arabic and islamic studies at the university of exeter. The books below became my road map to a distant place. Writing from an iranian rather than a european perspective, katouzian integrates the significant cultural and literary history of iran with its political and social history.
Were featuring a threepart history of wwii as one book because an article about 10 books just sounds so much more neat and tidy. The clergys revenge a modern history of iran books. She has also been writing regular updates on the situation in iran for news desk. Some of the worlds most ancient settlements have been excavated in the caspian region and on the iranian plateau. List of books and articles about ancient persia online. The history of iran, which was commonly known until the mid20th century as persia in the western world, is intertwined with the history of a larger region, also to an extent known as greater iran, comprising the area from anatolia, the bosphorus, and egypt in the west to the borders of ancient india and the syr darya in the east, and from the caucasus and the eurasian steppe in the north to. Only books relating to persian culture are considered by the editors.