An Analysis of Hamid Dabashi's Iran: A People Interrupted

Hamid Dabashi's book makes an important intervention in the historiography of modern Iran by disrupting the usual binaries of East/West, tradition/modernity, and through challenging the civilizational thinking that informs much of the literature on Iran and its history. Unlike some historical accounts of Iran, Dabashi's narration does not suffer from an analytical freezing in 1979. Nor does it overlook the role of colonialism in the history of Iran and in the formation of Iranian modernities. Dabashi theorizes modern Iran in liminal spaces that are often ignored in narrations that rely on binary opposites of religion/secularism, tradition/modernity, and national/anti-national. While benefiting from the social history authored by historians such as Abrahamian and Paidar, Dabashi enters this history by weaving together his personal stories in Iran and diaspora to the events in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. Dabashi, a great story teller, incorporates film, literature, and popular culture into his analysis, thus making the book a page-turner. He takes an ambitious task of making a complex history of two centuries available for the public in a language that is theoretically informed. This experimentation with writing style, while admirable for it makes the book usable outside of academic circles, creates a tension where theoretical concepts and terms are used in a book which seems to be targeted for a readership larger than those in academia. Granted that few, if any, Iranian scholars with the theoretical knowledge and familiarity with the literature referenced in this book are willing or capable of writing books for the public, one can only admire Dabashi for taking this important step in a world where the public knowledge produced about Iran is limited to accounts produced in neoconservative and conservative think tanks, and memoirs that fit squarely in the hegemonic civilizational discourses about Iran. Without pretending to deliver a total history of Iran, Dabashi's writing style and his incorporation of memory, cultural productions, and historical texts make the reader conscious of the fact that every history is a story told from a subjective view, despite claims of objective historiography. Dabashi's narration is an interruption in truth claims about Iran and its history. I highly recommend the book.

The first thing I'd say is to ignore the hateful personal attacks on the author of this book. Hamid Dabashi is one of the most prolific Iranian intellectuals in exile. His book will shatter all your perceptions on Iran and the wider Muslim world, and even the United States (a place he calls home). It's a brave, passionately written moving account of Iran by a world-class scholar. But the difference between this book and the myriad of other books on Iran is that as a scholar Dabashi has included his own memories from his youth in the book which makes it such a pleasant read. He's poetic and exceedingly knowledgeable about the many aspects of Iranian history that he masterfully tackles. In some ways this book is also a memoir, a beautiful one. The bad reviews stem from people who differ with Dabashi on an ideological premise but instead of criticizing specific arguments or just say that they are for instance monarchists and are offended by Dabashi's bold and unapologetic critique of the Shah, they resort to personal and vengeful attacks, and they promote authors of Iran who are hardly worth anyone's time. I firmly recommend Dabashi's book to everyone. It's a wonderful book.

As an avid follower of current affairs and someone who wants to know more about US-Iran relations, I am having a ball with this book! I would urge you to seriously ignore the vengeful (personal) attacks on the author of this book by what seems to be right wing Americans or monarchist Iranians (just look at the reviewers' book-lists or Google them to see "where" they come from)! Dabashi's IRAN is a well-researched, easy-to-read and authoritative history book/memoir/movie script. Often "history books" are dull and one only uses their index or certain chapter/s to look things up but this one flows like poetry! Wished all historians would write like Dabashi does. Easy, to the point and full of wit and wisdom. Dabashi provides a colorful and wonderful narrative about Iran as a multifaceted and complex country--a country full of hope but like many other places, those hopes were and are still crushed for many reasons. He tells us about Iranians' (and Americans') dreams and fears throughout history up until today. I cannot emphasize how much Dabashi gives hope for the world, and for Iranians, whom he stresses are a "cosmopolitan people". They are not only "Persian" or "Muslims" but come of all political persuasions and they have fought domestic tyrannies at the hands of their monarchs and their current Islamic government too. It's a really brilliant and passionate book. If you want to just read one (easy) book to find out about all the things you want to know about this "monster" they call Iran, then Dabashi's book is for you--in his footnotes he is uncompromising in his criticism of what he sees as poor scholarship on Iran and Iranian Orientalism (hence his criticism of *some* of his fellow Iranists which seems only fair) but he also gives reference to *plenty* great works on Iranian history by other Iranists and also fills you in on other issues of current interest, like the "war on terror" and "civilizational confrontations"). You'll feel energized after reading his version of Iranian (and very much U.S.) history and he certainly has authority in what he says. He is a "giant" of Iranian Studies at Columbia. I read this book in like two days and am now up for my next round! This is a must-read, and probably as important if not more than Edward Said's Orientalism for Iran.

I am fascinated by Iran and Iranian political history. I admit it. When I heard Prof. Dabashi talking about this book on CSPAN I was intrigued because i had not heard of the man before but enjoyed very much what he was talking about. He was talking about these rebellious writers and poets and how they influenced the Iranian constitutional revolution. Kenneth Pollack (whose Persian Puzzle I read a year or two back)would be lost next to this guy I thought...and I was correct. Despite your thoughts on his abrasive treatment of neo-conservative scholars, expats, and political figures, Dabashi makes a very compelling argument about Iran and also the world around Iran. This book is very much about colonialism, its relation to capitalism and modernity and the Iranian struggle with these forces. It's very little about punditry, people screaming "Nuclear Iran ahhhhhhhh!", so if you are looking for that, you will be supremely disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Iran: A People Interrupted. Something clicked for me while I was reading it and I highly recommend it to any Iran scholar or anyone curious about this Iran place as well.

The book cuts through the myths, past and present, that Americans have been told about Iran. It is a wealth of information, presenting Iran's history through the lens of its literary cosmopolitanism, and interpreting recent politics in the broader context of post-colonial resistance. More than a monograph, it contributes to global knowledge, exemplary of a new Leftist discourse that is undogmatic and non-sectarian. The style is open and intimate. You will know when you read this book that you are with a humanist who deeply loves his country, and invites you to feel very much at home. ---Susan Buck-Morss, Cornell University