Iran cover art

Iran

A Modern History

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Iran

By: Abbas Amanat
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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About this listen

This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.

Abbas Amanat combines chronological and thematic approaches, exploring events with lasting implications for modern Iran and the world. Drawing on diverse historical scholarship and emphasizing the 20th century, he addresses debates about Iran's culture and politics.

Political history is the driving narrative force, given impetus by Amanat's decades of research and study. He layers the book with discussions of literature, music, and the arts; ideology and religion; economy and society; and cultural identity and heritage.

©2017 Yale University (P)2018 Tantor Asia Middle East Modern World War Ancient History Imperialism Self-Determination Military Ottoman Empire Civil War United States Modern Iran

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All stars
Most relevant  
The historical events and contexts are quite well explained and the book is overall very enjoyable and instructive.
It is particularly interesting that many linguistical and etymological links are made between the persian language and english. However if you are going to make it a significant part of your book, please find a narrator who can pronounce the persian words correctly. There is a persian name or word and a linguistical comment on it on average every two minutes but the narrator is entirely incapable to pronounce even a single word right. Even one syllable words. It is extremely frustrating that the quality of a carefully crafted source of knowledge would be undermined by its broadcasting medium. This is as if you would read the book but every persian word has been replaced with random nonsense.

I don’t know how this works but as an editor please choose narrators that are competent for the particular task. Or as a narrator maybe seek more advice.

I want to clarify that the narrator has a very pleasant calm british voice and does a wonderful job EXCEPT for anything in farsi.

Great book bad persian pronounciation

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With nearly 50 hours of content, I was ready to deep dive into understanding how Iran became the way it is today after Persia was at the birth of civilisation. This book goes deep into the histories and explains the trials and tribulations of the now failed state. Really immense research and explains a lot of the reasons for the way it self ostracised. But it needs a volume 2 to get deeper into the post Islamic Revolution leadership and failures that gets us to the current situation.

Fascinating and detailed

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Leaving judgments to reader while the comparisons of historic identity with religious identity and mixing these two!!

Insightful but not proportional enough in describing recent era

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mispronounced everything from "shia" to the names so badly that it's unrecognizable for someone who knows the names and some of the history.

whoever read the book is a disgrace!

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One of the most comprehensive books, entailing all detailed aspects of foreign, social, local and religious influences on iranian politics. The book is very engaging, bringing different aspects and layers of each era of Iran’s history into life. The only problem I had was with certain parts if the narrator. As much as I fully enjoyed Derek Perkin’s narration, there are certain names that he fully mispronounces on some occasions and pronounces fully correct on others. The inconsistencies are annoying. Also some names are lazily mispronounced (not too difficult to double check). Other than that, 5 stars!

One of the most comprehensive, detailed, unbiased and informative books on all aspects of modern history of Iran

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This is a thorough, comprehensive serious and scholarly work, discussing the evolution of Iranian socio-economic history from the Safavid period to the present day.
I found the 19th and 20th century accounts most interesting. Although there is a leitmotiv of the various dynasties seeking legitimacy by harping back to the Safavid period, I would have been equally happy had the book started with the Qajar dynasty.
The book is particularly well read and although there are some slight mispronunciations, it's as good a reading as any non-Persian speaker could have rendered.

An excellent scholarly work

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Very good overview of the past 500 years of Iranian history. I bought this as I wanted to understand how the Islamic Republic came to be, and I ended up with a far greater understanding of Iranian history and culture than I had anticipated.

After reaching the chapters set in the 1980s and 90s, and the atrocities committed by the IR, it has given me a greater appreciation of the courage of contemporary Iranians trying to survive the regime.

Now I'll move on to pre-Islamic Iranian history, to cheer myself up a bit!

Very informative and insightful overview of Iran

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When will Audible get it's act together and include chapter titles, so that listeners can more easily navigate a book...

No Chapter Titles

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Sadly only somnolent.
It should have been a thrilling text.
Whenever you hear the term "agency" be ready to fear the subsequent 60 mins.

I doubt whether the author leaves his chair much..no original insights. No feel for social organization or living standards.
The narrator appears to be on a long term lithium course.

Soporific

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