Joanna de Groot. Religion, Culture and Politics in Iran: From the Qajars to Khomeini

L, NY: I.B. Tauris, 2007. - VIII+305 p.A new and original interpretation of the social history of religion in Iran from the 1870s to the 1970s.Drawing together religion and other social and cultural issues, it places the revolutionary upheavals of 1977-82 in the context of historical developments over the preceding century. De Groot argues that Iran's revolution was not the inevitable outcome of the nature of the Iranian state or of religion in Iran but was much more complex and resulted from a wider range of factors than is traditionally believed. She focuses on the human responses of Iranians to their experiences and on the rich variety and complexity of the relationship between religion and other aspects of society, thought and culture in their daily life.Introduction: making stories about Iran
Part I: The ‘religious’ and the ‘social’
1. A story of cultures and communities
2. A story of material relationships
3. A story of distinctive institutions and vested interests
Part II: The ‘religious’ and the ‘political’
4. The life, death and afterlife of political issues
5. A story of language, symbol and discourse
6. A story of movements and struggles: convergence, conflict and cohabitation
Concluding some stories (and starting others)