A History of Iran-Us Relations - by Afshin Matin-Asgari (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A chronicle of US imperialism's century-long interaction with Iran's successive regimes and people

The story of imperialism and resistance from the nineteenth century to the age of Trump, told in six gripping chapters each filled with ironic plot twists and colorful actors. Matin-Asgari tells the dramatic story of how America's missionaries and educators, oilmen and CIA agents, scholars and arms dealers, diplomats and presidents. He shows how their Middle East misadventures entangled with ordinary Iranian men and women, entrepreneurs and industrial workers, nationalists and communists, students abroad and diaspora communities, shahs and ayatollahs. The book takes a fresh take on familiar events: the Cold War and the Iranian Revolution, the Hostage Crisis and the Iran-Iraq war, and decades of onerous American sanctions on Iran. its labyrinthine tales of yet another American imperial misadventure.

About the Author

Born in Iran, Afshin Matin-Asgari studied in the US, where he was active in the 1970s anti-Shah student opposition and returned to Iran to participate in Iranian Revolution. He lives in the U.S. and is Professor of Middle East history at California State University, Los Angeles. Matin-Asgari has published two scholarly monographs and more than two dozen articles and book chapters on modern Iranian political and intellectual history, specializing in leftist thought and movements.