Heroes to Hostages
America and Iran, 1800–1988

Outlines the evolving U.S.-Iran relationship from 1800 until 1988, highlighting the intersection of diplomatic, social, and cultural changes.

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet (Author)

9781009322133, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 August 2023

368 pages
22.7 x 15.3 x 2.5 cm, 0.68 kg

'This book brings Iran to the centre stage of world politics, explaining how Western economic and military power was built on a predatory relation to Iran's national body, geography, and resources, and how, in spite of it, Iran protected its independent agency. An authentic global history of Iran-US relations.' Paola Rivetti, Dublin City University

It is easy to forget, given the oppositional dynamic between Iran and the United States of the last 50 years, that these two countries once shared productive partnership. Tracing US-Iran relations over two turbulent centuries, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet considers when and how this relationship went awry. With careful attention to social and cultural as well as diplomatic developments, Kashani-Sabet shows that the rift did not originate in flashpoints of crisis, like the 1953 coup or the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but was instead long in the making. Drawing from a wealth of English and Persian-language sources, many of which were previously unavailable or unacknowledged, this book considers the relationship from the vantage point of Iranian society and the experiences of an evolving Iran that strived to accommodate American and great power politics. Following these two nations through wars, decolonization, and revolution, Kashani-Sabet presents an invaluable history of a diplomatic rivalry that informs geopolitics to this day.

Preface
A note on transliteration
Introduction
Part I. Uncertain Overtures (1796-1914): 1. Pluralist Persia: a land of many religions
2. The portals of Persepolis: Persian antiquity and American curiosity
3. A martyr and many masters: America and Iranian constitutionalism
Part II. Desultory Mordernities (1914-1941): 4. Iran in transition: war, famine, and recovery, 1914-1925
5. Flirting with secular modernity: America and social change in Iran, 1925-1939
6. Investing in Iran: frontiers and foreign competition, 1925-1939
Part III. Cataclysms (1941-1963): 7. Unwelcome visitors: the occupation of Iran during World War II
8. Subverting sovereignty: the politics of oil
9. Roots of revenge: cultural flux and specters of violence
Part IV. A Troubled Middle East (1960-1979): 10. The anti-Aryan moment: decolonization, race, and human rights
11. A political minefield: Iran between Israel and pan-Arabism
12. The Shah's fight for hegemony: from the Persian Gulf to the Vietnam war
Part V. The Schism (1978-1988): 13. The picketers come of age: from civil disobedience to armed protest
14. Burning bridges: revolution and the rift in US-Iranian relations
15. Neither heroes nor hostages.

Subject Areas: Diplomacy [JPSD], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Society & culture: general [JF], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], General & world history [HBG]