Iran is going nuclear, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly proclaimed that
Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
The U.S. and
Iran are currently at a total
impasse, and some have claimed that the White House is already drawing up war
plans. How did we get here?
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In CONFRONTING IRAN: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and
the Next Great Conflict in the Middle East (on sale July 3, 2006) by Ali
M. Ansari provides a concise yet comprehensive analysis of the brewing crisis,
its origins, and its potential consequences. Ansari places current developments
within a historical and cultural context. He describes the myths and prejudices
which have developed on both sides over the course of centuries and which have
shaped policy and public opinion for decades.
|
“With
war plans being rumored, there could be no better time for Ansari's smart,
concise, jargon-free recounting of a century of American-Iranian
relations. This should be
on the must read list of
anyone concerned with what comes next in the Middle
East.”
—Richard W.
Bulliet, Professor of History, Columbia University |
Ansari demonstrates that ongoing
prejudice has bred mutual suspicion and conflicting narratives about key events
including the overthrow of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953, the Islamic Revolution
and the Hostage Crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the Iran-Contra Scandal and the
shooting down of the Iran Air airbus by the USS Vincennes. It will come as a surprise to most
Americans that in the past this “Axis of Evil” nation admired
America and held it up as the model
of ‘religious democracy.’
America currently has neither diplomatic
ties nor a coherent policy for dealing with Iran. And there
is also no international consensus. Ansari deftly highlights the trilateral
convergence of the U.S.,
Europe, and Iran which helps
explain how Iran policy frequently falls victim
to rivalry between Western allies, leading to our current state of muddled
thinking, and even more muddled policy.
With twenty-six years of reactive,
inconsistent or non-existent Western policy towards this oil rich nation,
American readers will find CONFRONTING
IRAN extremely timely and enlightening.
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR:
Fluent in Persian, Ali Ansari is a
highly regarded specialist in the field of Iranian history and politics with a
doctorate from the School of
Oriental and African Studies at the
University of
London. He has written for
periodicals including the Financial
Times and the Independent
(London) and
has been a commentator on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News, and NPR.
CONFRONTING IRAN
The Failure of American Foreign
Policy and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle
East
Ali Ansari
Published by Basic Books, A Member
of the Perseus Books Group
Publication date; July 3,
2006
Price: $26.00 /
Hardcover
280 pages
ISBN:
0-465-00350-8
