Iran
Subtitle: everything you need to know
By: John Farndon
Publisher: Icon Books
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Cambridge
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781840465716; 9781281767950
Subjects: History; HISTORY; Iran; Description and travel; General
Description: Could Iran build and use nuclear weapons? - Might London become the target of an Iranian nuclear attack? - How would we be affected if Iran cut off oil supplies? - Does the West's attitude drive young Iranians to extremism? - What can the West do to reduce the Iranian threat? Iran's President Ahmadinejad shocked the Western world when he described the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis as a myth and called for Israel to be 'wiped off the map'. No wonder then that some Western leaders are terrified at the prospect of Iran resuming its nuclear programme - and perhaps building nuclear.
Table of contents: title: ""Contents""; ""CHAPTER 1 A Mass of Contradictions""; ""The nuclear crisis""; ""Persia or Iran?""; ""Sceptical believers""; ""CHAPTER 2 Iranâ€?s Persian Roots""; ""The kings of Media""; ""The Achaemenids and the first Persian empire""; ""Cyrus the Great""; ""Zoroaster""; ""The value of charisma""; ""Achaemenid civilisation""; ""The burning of Persepolis""; ""The Seleucids and Parthians""; ""The Sassanians""; ""The Magi""; ""CHAPTER 3 The Coming of Islam""; ""The words of the Prophet""; ""The Sassanidsâ€? downfall""; ""Persian libraries""; ""Islamâ€?s great schism""; ""Ali and social justice""; title: ""Shia and Sunni""""The tragedy at Karbala""; ""Iranian passion play""; ""CHAPTER 4 Persian Renaissance""; ""The Abbasid Golden Age""; ""Harun and the Arabian Nights""; ""The rebirth of Persian""; ""Persian backlash""; ""The Shahnameh""; ""The Mongol terror""; ""The lure of Sufi""; ""The spread of Shiâ€?ism""; ""Hafez""; ""Shah Abbas""; ""The glories of Isfahan""; ""CHAPTER 5 Persian Twilight?""; ""Iran at its nadir""; ""Protecting the truth""; ""The Qajar shahs""; ""Britain and Russia""; ""Reuters Iran""; ""The women of the harem""; ""Growing dissent""; ""The Constitutional Revolution""; title: ""The failure of the Majlis""""A free press?""; ""CHAPTER 6 The Last Shahs""; ""The Cossackâ€?s coup""; ""The Pahlavi shah""; ""Razing Iran""; ""Cut-throat Reza""; ""Attacking Islam""; ""Rezaâ€?s downfall""; ""CHAPTER 7 An American Coup""; ""The battle over oil""; ""The rise of Mossadeq""; ""The National Front""; ""The few""; ""British reaction""; ""â€?Mossyâ€? in America""; ""Bedside diplomacy""; ""Kermitâ€?s coup""; ""The 1953 coup: the verdict""; ""CHAPTER 8 The Islamic Revolution""; ""The White Revolution""; ""Military muscle""; ""Persian extravaganza""; ""The voice of Islam""; title: ""The Shia clergy""""Who was Ayatollah Khomeini?""; ""The supreme spiritual guide""; ""The road to ruin""; ""The Shahâ€?s final moments""; ""CHAPTER 9 Khomeiniâ€?s Rule""; ""Mullah muscle""; ""The arms of Islamic control""; ""The battle over the constitution""; ""Asset stripping""; ""The hostage crisis""; ""Neutralising the left""; ""CHAPTER 10 Iran at War""; ""The Mujahedin""; ""â€?The imposed warâ€?""; ""Human minesweepers""; ""The cost of war""; ""The American playing field""; ""The course of the war""; ""CHAPTER 11 Spreading the Islamic Revolution?""; ""Export duty""; title: ""Lebanon and Hezbollah""""Iran falters""; ""The Iranâ€?Contra affair""; ""The end of the war""; ""The Satanic Verses""; ""CHAPTER 12 After Khomeini""; ""Rafsanjani rises""; ""Hardliners vs. pragmatists""; ""Corruption Tehran style""; ""Muhammad Khatami""; ""Tehran spring""; ""Muhammad Khatami: Ayatollah Gorbachev""; ""Conservative fightback""; ""CHAPTER 13 The Blacksmithâ€?s Son""; ""The â€?peopleâ€?s friendâ€?""; ""Who is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?""; ""Ahmadinejad abroad""; ""Ahmadinejadâ€?s Iran""; ""The Mohammad cartoon""; ""Preparing for the Hidden Imam""; ""Pictures on the wall""