A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ⢠A hugely ambitious,âdelightfully readable, genuinely informativeâportrait (The New York Times) of the two-centuries-long entwined histories of Iran and Americaâtwo powers who were once allies and now adversariesâby an admired historian and former journalist.
In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the eighteenth centuryâthe subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adamsâand an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
Drawing on years of archival research both in the United States and Iranâincluding access to Iranian government archives rarely available to Western scholarsâthe Iranian-born, Oxford-educated historian leads us through the four seasons of U.S.âIran relations: the spring of mutual fascination; the summer of early interactions; the autumn of close strategic ties; and the long, dark winter of mutual hatred. Ghazvinian makes clear where, how, and when it all went wrong. America and Iran shows why two countries that once had such heartfelt admiration for each other became such committed enemiesâand why it didnât have to turn out this way.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ⢠A hugely ambitious,âdelightfully readable, genuinely informativeâportrait (The New York Times) of the two-centuries-long entwined histories of Iran and Americaâtwo powers who were once allies and now adversariesâby an admired historian and former journalist.
In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the eighteenth centuryâthe subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adamsâand an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
Drawing on years of archival research both in the United States and Iranâincluding access to Iranian government archives rarely available to Western scholarsâthe Iranian-born, Oxford-educated historian leads us through the four seasons of U.S.âIran relations: the spring of mutual fascination; the summer of early interactions; the autumn of close strategic ties; and the long, dark winter of mutual hatred. Ghazvinian makes clear where, how, and when it all went wrong. America and Iran shows why two countries that once had such heartfelt admiration for each other became such committed enemiesâand why it didnât have to turn out this way.