This, and the bejewelled swords and daggers of the Mughals, Ottomans,
Qajars and many other dynasties, were items of conspicuous consumption (Fig.
The "Russian legacy" may also be less notorious than it could and should have been because of the relative weakness of the
Qajar central government; since the
Qajars were not perceived as rigid defenders of the Iranian borders, the legacies could become less confrontational.
550 BCE, the book focuses attention on the Safavids and the
Qajars, the tumult of the 19th century, as well as both world wars, the Cold War, the Islamic Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War, before concluding with an examination of where Iran is heading in the 21st century.
In essence, the book is a history of American diplomatic reaction to British attempts to establish and consolidate imperial hegemony over Persia/Iran and of the dynastic transition from the
Qajars, who had ruled over Iran since the late 18th century, to the Pahlevis, who were only to rule (subtracting the democratic interregnum represented by Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq, himself overthrown by the CIA in 1953 in favor of the original Shah's son) until the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
A well-argued, lucidly narrated and meticulously researched work, this volume mainly focuses on the development of the Shi'i ceremonies under three successive authoritarian regimes:
Qajars, Pahlavis, and the Islamic Republic.
Conservative clerics allied with the
Qajars tried to discredit their constitutionalist opponents in the public eye by posting fake shabnamehs praising constitutionalism, bearing the forged signatures of prominent Babis and Baha'is, in an effort to associate the reformists with religious heterodoxy.
Before this period, Iran was experiencing one-hundred-years of political anarchy--between the fall of the Safavids and the rise of the
Qajars.
Though they never fully disengaged themselves from nostalgic loyalties to their earlier patrons, the Zands, within the
Qajar polity the Qaim-maqams represented a strong voice for state-building and centralization, ministerial authority, and diplomacy--positions which helped transform the military-nomadic spirit of the early
Qajars.
But Tehran was just a small town then, and had little importance until the
Qajars took power in 1794 and made that city their capital.
Representing the unpresentable; historical images of national reform from the
Qajars to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
RELIGION, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN IRAN FROM THE
QAJARS TO KHOMEINI By Joanna De Groot published by IB TAURIS ISBN 978 1 86064 571 6 price 39.
Her father was a major political figure under the
Qajars, serving at one point as minister of war.
