Content area
Full Text
The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran. By Ali M. Ansari. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 327 pp. $99.99 ($30.99, paper).
In The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran, Ansari of the University of St. Andrews assesses the relationship between history and myth in defining Iranian nationalism, focusing on ideas that shaped the building of the Iranian nation. His interpretation of Iranian nationalism is placed within the context of various ideas that achieved prominence beginning with the Qajar dynasty (1725-1925) and culminating in today's Islamic Republic of Iran.
Persian elites borrowed from the vocabularies and myths of Europe as they crafted their own Iranian version of the role of nation in bringing about progress (as defined by European standards.) The legacy of the European myth of Aryanism, which took a destructive path in Hitler's National Socialism, was embraced by Persians: Iran was seen as the developing center of the human race with Europe tracing its roots to a common and noble Aryan origin.
The rise of modern Iranian nationalism truly begins, though, with the...