A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind

This is an excellent exposition of Iranian history surveying the nation's history through the age of empire from the times of Cyrus the Great to the present government led by the Islamic Republic. One of the first things that will surprise you about this book is how extensive but yet quickly you will be able to move through the time periods of Persian history. The book starts by describing Persia from the first true Persian Dynasty, the Achaemenid dynasty, followed by the Seleucid, Parthian, Sassanid, Umayyad, Abassid, Saffavid, Qajar, and Phavali dynasties. The chapters are linked together by stories and important historical developments in each era and transistions smoothly by describing the fall and the rise of the subsequent powers.In addition, the author dedicated an extensive chapter to the acomplishment of Persian poets including works of Rumi, Saadi, Hafez, and Iraqi. It is most interesting to understand the role of poetry and its development in Persian history. The symbolism of the poetic works corresponds to subjects such as love, power, war, and life. However, I find the ones involving love most perxplexing and the usage of the term "wine" as the metaphor for love. The symbolic, which are mostly subliminal, of these poems are truly influential.So if you are someone who wants to thumb through a well composed survey of Iran's history, culture, and people this book is definitely the right one for you. It is always breathtaking to see how civilizations can influence each other in the most subtle manner and thus have profound effects just as how people may influence each other.

This book can be considered a starting point for any newcomer to Iranian history. It is, without a doubt, a major contribution to the popular history genre. While Iran/Persia is one of the great empires, Axworthy implies that it is also an empire of the mind, a virtual empire that transcends the western concept of the geopolitical state.The book follows Iran's chronological history from pre-Achaemenid times to the present. It is well researched and has extensive footnotes and references allowing the reader to delve into details of any event or subject. Yet, it is eminently readable and has the tone of a lively and informative lecture rather than an erudite tome.The book binds all the varied elements of Iranian culture (a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religion mélange of peoples) into a single story line. It provides a factual, but simplified, picture of a multiplicity of societies who consider themselves Iranian regardless of the proclivity of their present governments. The reader is forced to re-evaluate the common notions of Iran as a homogeneous entity and recognize it as a hodgepodge of different groups who are bound by a common belief in the uniqueness of their civilization, culture and history.Perhaps the greatest contribution of the book is the portrayal of Iranian minorities. It is no small feat to trace their histories in the Iranian context. Yet, as Axworthy implies, it is their historical contributions and continued existence that make Iranian culture unique. It would be a sad day if any government forced uniformity on such a great and diverse culture.The book does not cover everything (that would require an encyclopedia) but it misses some points. For instance, it discusses the Council of Guardians but does not cover another key element of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic - the Council of Experts. This is the Council that was responsible for appointing Ayatollah Khamenei as "supreme leader", a decision that involved considerable internal debate. Further, in theory, this Council can remove the supreme leader if it finds him unfit to rule. This is no small power considering the current turmoil Iran and is certainly worth mentioning.However, in spite of such minor omissions, the book is accurate, immensely readable and truly major contribution to Iranian history.

I was looking for a comprehensive book on Iranian history, and this is definitely the best one. It strikes a good tone between academic and popular history, and I loved the descriptions of poetry and religious movements. The only downside is that the history is so condensed that huge topics get very short thrift. I will have to follow up with narrower books on specific periods or issues. This is a good entry point to do so.

This is a enjoyable, relaxing read by a knowledgeable author on a very important subject. The author’s focus on Iran’s unique culture and legacy of multiculturalism is refreshing and a reminder that Iran’s current political leadership is not reflective of the country’s total history, all of its people, or deterministic about Iran’s future in the world.

Another reader thought my first comment was a JOKE! so let me qualify that, people from the west pronounce this country's name like "eye-Ran" and they refer to us as "eye-ranians" which makes us cringe everytime we hear this botched pronounciation. Rarely does a westerner say it the proper way and for that they're not to blame, but the first scholars/diplomats who interacted with the west, for lack of knowledge and ignorance of the English language and its phonetics. Had it been printed as "Earon" in history books, then most would be saying it the right way. I thought for benefit of AMAZON's scholars and readers, they might appreciate to learn and practice saying 'Earon', and Earonians when they refer to us.I should also add that the author is clearly a well educated scholar who wrote this without any influence from an entity of interest and his recount of the history is impartial and accurate. In fact, I found this text to be more truthful than many of the history text books which we were forced to memorize as children growing up through elementary and high schools in Earon, which was due to the fact that powers to be at the time wanted to influence and brain wash a whole generation.Also as mentioned by another reader, don't anticipate any stories from the 20th century as the focus of this book is on the earlier dynasties who ruled the vast PERSIAN empire whose boarders stretched into significant portion of the continent of ASIA.