Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

You seem to know a lot about Iranian politics, would you recommend something to read to bring an American up to speed on Iranian culture and politics both domestic and international?


It depends what you want to learn about specifically.

For a general introduction there is an excellent 3 part BBC documentary "Iran and the West":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_the_West

If you want an inside account of things from a 'Prince': "Blood and Oil:: Memoirs of a Persian Prince"

For fascinating insight into Iran's geopolitics, economics and the context of the 1979 revolution (with major implications for the current global oil market) consider Andrew Scott Cooper's excellent book: The Oil Kings

here's an article from 2014 by Cooper to whet your appetite: http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/12/18/why-would-the-saudis-cra...

and here's quite a good interview with Cooper from 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BXCx8oNvoo

His more recent book (not out yet): The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-Heaven-Pahlavis-Imperial/dp/0...

But be aware that as always, behind every tyrant walks a cadre of sycophants with bloody mops attempting to twist history & exonerate the guilty. IMHO Hooman Majd, Reza Aslan and Trita Parsi are all varying degrees of apologists for the Islamic regime.

If you have a more specific interest, let me know and perhaps I'll be able to recommend something else.


I really appreciate your sharing these sources.

For anyone else interested, I found the BBC series Iran and the West is currently available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka-Wu1jYY9U


Wow. Thank you for this very comprehensive answer.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: