A history of Iran : empire of the mind / Michael Axworthy.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-323) and index.

1. Origins: Zoroaster, the Achaemenids, and the Greeks -- 2. The Iranian Revival: Parthians and Sassanids -- 3. Islam and Invasions: The Arabs, Turks, and Mongols - The Iranian Reconquest of Islam, the Sufis, and the Poets -- 4. Shi'ism and the Safavids -- 5. The Fall of the Safavids, Nader Shah, the Eighteenth-Century Interregnum, and the Early Years of the Qajar Dynasty -- 6. The Crisis of the Qajar Monarchy, the Revolution of 1905-1911, and the Accession of the Pahlavi Dynasty -- 7. The Pahlavis and the Revolution of 1979 -- 8. Iran Since the Revolution: Islamic Revival, War, and Confrontation -- 9. From Khatami to Ahmadinejad, and the Iranian Predicament.

"Iran is a land, of contradictions. It is an Islamic republic, but only 1.4 percent of the population attend Friday prayers. Iran's religious culture includes some of the most censorious and dogmatic Shi'a Muslim clerics in the world, and yet Iran's great heritage of poetry insistently dwells on the joys of life - wine, beauty, love, and desire. Iranian women are subject to one of the most restrictive dress codes in the Islamic world, but make up over 60 percent of students entering university." "Michael Axworthy explains the effect that Iran's complex history of empire, foreign invasion, and religious revolution has had on the Iranian national identity. He illuminates the role that cultural, literary, religious, and intellectual movements - and the personalities and ideas that shaped them - have played in one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world."--BOOK JACKET.