This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense, but an ambitious exploration of the nation that offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by trends and currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years.
CHAPTER ONE. Shi‘ism and the Safavid Revolution (1501–1588)
CHAPTER TWO. The Age of ‘Abbas I and the Shaping of the Safavid Empire (1588–1666)
CHAPTER THREE. The Demise of the Safavid Order and the Unhappy Interregnums (1666–1797)
CHAPTER FOUR. The Making of the Qajar Era (1797–1852)
CHAPTER FIVE. Naser al-Din Shah and Maintaining a Fragile Balance (1848–1896)
CHAPTER SIX. The Constitutional Revolution: Road to a Plural Modernity (1905–1911)
CHAPTER SEVEN. The Great War and the Rise of Reza Khan (1914–1925)
CHAPTER EIGHT. Reza Shah and the Pahlavi Order (1925–1941)
CHAPTER NINE. Chaotic Democracy, Oil Nationalization, and Denied Hopes (1941–1953)
CHAPTER TEN. The White Revolution and Its Opponents (1953–1963)
CHAPTER ELEVEN. Development, Disarray, and Discontent (1963–1977)
CHAPTER TWELVE. Cultures of Authority and Cultures of Dissent
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. The Making of the Islamic Revolution (1977–1979)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Guardian Jurist and His Advocates
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. Consolidation of the Islamic Republic (1979–1984)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. Society and Culture under the Islamic Republic