American “Open Letter Monthly” website article, original title: Book Review: “Iran‘s 500 Years” Yale University history professor Abbas Amanat has launched a grand work, “Iran‘s 500 Years” (published in 2017, Chinese translation published in 2022), in which the understanding of the term “nearly modern” perfectly fits the crucial historical stage of Persia, this ancient civilization and hub of humanity.
From the Safavid dynasty’s revolution in Iran in the 16th century, through the Kayseri dynasty in the 18th and early 19th centuries, to the Islamic revolution in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s and the long and bitter Iran-Iran War, Amanat’s book traces the historical process of Shi‘a and state power convergence. (According to the book, in the early 16th century, the Safavid dynasty adopted Shi‘a as the state religion and attacked each other with the Ottoman Empire, leading to a hundred-year war on the Iranian plateau. In the late 18th century, Iran, which had been torn apart, was reunited, but decades later became a chessboard for the Anglo-Russian game. In 1908, Iran first extracted oil, and soon after, Iranian oil was shipped to Europe, stirring up the battlefields of World War I.) During the Cold War, the United States viewed Iran as a regional ally to counterbalance the Soviet Union. At the same time, Iran also attempted to become an important participant in international politics through this. In 1979, Iran‘s Islamic Revolution succeeded, turning the United States and Iran from allies into enemies. The newly born Iran after the revolution suffered prolonged international isolation under U.S. sanctions. In 1980, the Iran-Iran War broke out, adding to the already turbulent Middle East. In 2015, the “Iranian Nuclear Agreement” was signed, but the Iranian nuclear problem has not ended, and it still affects the nerves of various countries to this day. Religion, geography, oil, war, revolution—who exactly is controlling Iran‘s fate? —Editor’s Note)
Amanat vividly portrays dozens of vivid historical figures, with their loves and hates, their calculations, their struggles, and their lives and deaths, all in the context of the mechanisms that the author constructs throughout the political structure: The Persian idea of government uses specific checks and balances to curb the barbaric abuses of power. This set of government operations, called the “Ring of Justice,” is essentially an ideal paradigm, and the highly revered governing texts in local political writings constantly remind rulers of their responsibility to perform “just” governance of the state. The king needs to maintain social balance by giving the protection and rewards that all classes deserve, and to restrain the army and bureaucracy from over-invading the lives of their subjects. If the subjects under the king‘s rule are oppressed and plundered, they cannot maintain productivity, and the land gradually becomes desolate, leading to the weakening of the state.
“Such a pattern of power cycling was undoubtedly inspired by the agricultural cycle.” This relationship between principle and reality creates a sense of tension and suspense throughout the book. Amnat fills each chapter with the image of a plump prince and cleric, and his overall discourse reads smoothly and pleasantly, sometimes making the book seem more like an epic than a general history. It is, so to speak, a “Chronicle of Kings” of Iran‘s recent history, and Shiism is seen as an important core that links the entire book together: It is perhaps Shiism, more than any other cohesive force, that truly unifies Iran‘s ruling class—the royal family, the nobility, the bureaucracy, the large landowners, and even the tribal chiefs. Religious beliefs are also an important link connecting the majority of the population in the cities and countryside with the country‘s ruling elite. The Safavid dynasty, the Caesars, and other short-lived dynasties all claimed to be “Defenders of the Faith.” “This meant that the state had to accept the clergy,” Amnat emphasized.
“Five Hundred Years of Iran” casts many illuminating beams on understanding present-day Iran. Amanat pursues a larger goal, which is to present a picture of Iran‘s social culture through the actions, conflicts, speeches, and poems of countless people over 500 years. (Author Steve Donohue, line 1? translation)