The following resources were put together as a primer for those interested in learning more about the historical development of the political situation in Iran. You can read more about our recommendations here. Please visit this page periodically for new articles and resources.
Historical Context:
- Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 1982) and A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
- Said Amir Arjomand, After Khomeini: Iran After His Successors (Oxford University Press, 2009)
The Modern State:
- Afshin Marashi, Nationalizing Iran (University of Washington Press, 2008)
- Darius Rejali, Torture and Modernity (Westview Press, 1994)
- Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Conceiving Citizens: Women and the Politics of Motherhood in Iran (Oxford University Press, 2011)
- Arzoo Osanloo, The Politics of Women’s Rights in Iran (Princeton University Press, 2009)
Social Movements:
- March 1979 Women’s Protests (documentary)
- Nima Naghibi, Rethinking Global Sisterhood (University of Minnesota Press, 2007)
- One Million Signatures Campaign (video)
- Manijeh Nasrabadi, “Letter from Tehran” (June 2010)
- “Three Decades of Labor Struggles in Iran” (video)
- Iran Labor Report (Network of Iranian Labor Unions site)
- Asef Bayat, Workers and Revolution in Iran (Zed Books, 1987) and Street Politics: Poor People’s Movements in Iran (Columbia University Press, 1997)
- Nader Hashemi and Danny Postal, eds, The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future (Melville House, 2011)
- Manijeh Nasrabadi, “Gender, Class and Security Politics in Iran” (lecture/talk)
Fiction and Poetry:
- Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Missing Soluch, translated by Kamran Rastegar (Melville House Press, 2007)
- Forugh Farrkhzhad, Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzhad, translated by Sholeh Wolpé (University of Arkansas Press, 2007)
Memoirs:
- The Prison Papers of Bozorg Alavi, edited and translated by Donne Raffat (Syracuse University Press, 1985)
- Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs (Vintage Press, 1982)
- Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (Pantheon, 2003)
- Shahla Talebi, Ghosts of Revolution: Rekindled Memories of Imprisonment in Iran (Stanford University Press, 2011)