Understanding Iran: Everything You Need to Know, from Persia to the Islamic Republic, from Cyrus to Khamenei

William R. Polk

Oct 2009 · Macmillan + ORM

About this ebook

William R. Polk provides an informative, readable history of a country which is moving quickly toward becoming the dominant power and culture of the Middle East. A former member of the State Department's Policy Planning Council, Polk describes a country and a history misunderstood by many in the West. While Iranians chafe under the yolk of their current leaders, they also have bitter memories of generations of British, Russian and American espionage, invasion, and dominance. There are important lessons to be learned from the past, and Polk teases them out of a long and rich history and shows that it is not just now, but for decades to come that an understanding of Iran will be essential to American safety and well-being.

Ratings and reviews

I had to read and summarize this book for a class in which we were representing Iran. Already with a history degree working on a second, I can say Polk got the major things correct, while colleagues who worked for the Dept. of Defense focusing on Iran raged against many of the smaller details. Who is correct? That's not for me to judge at this moment. But that is not my major problem with Polk and this book. This book is, simply put, poorly written and structured. It rambles on in no real direction in the first half. Polk jumps from one thing to next leaving the reader to wonder if there is a connection between paragraphs or if Polk had merely decided that he was bored with the topic and wanted to move on. He unfortunately has fallen into the trap many other intellectuals have, not writing to help discuss or illuminate the topic with the reader, but merely to flaunt his supposed intellectual superiority over the "peasantry". I do have sympathy for Polk. He admits at the very start that this is an imperfect work in the acknowledgements. But that even an "imperfect book can prepare the way for better". But we also say "Bad help is worse than no help". And this is real bad help.

About the author

William R. Polk established the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, was president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs, and helped to organize the "Table Ronde" meeting that laid the groundwork for the European Union. He was called back to the White House briefly during the 1967 Middle Eastern War to write a draft Peace Treaty and to act as advisor to U.S. National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy.