The Loneliest Revolution: A Memoir of Solidarity and Struggle in Iran by Ali Mir

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In this first-hand account of the Iranian Revolution, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran with insights gleaned in his subsequent career as a sociologist of Iran.

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A memoir of life in Iran in the tumultuous years leading up to the 1979 revolution'Offers an intimate window onto the Iranian revolution just when we need to be thinking about it the most' - Marjane Satrapi, writer and film directorRecounts the political contests between Islamists, leftists, and others culminating in one of the twentieth century's most surprising revolutionsCombines the sensitivity of a memoir with the expertise of a scholarly study to explore lesser-known figures and events in the Iranian revolution's historyShifts the center of Iran's revolutionary history away from its capital to its provinces in an attempt to show how the global and local interacted at multiple levelsIn October 1978, a day that started like any other for Ali Mirsepassi full of anti-Shah protests ended in near death. He was stabbed and dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Tehran for having spoken against Khomeini. In this book, Mirsepassi digs up this and other painful memories to ask: How did the Iranian revolutionary movement come to this? How did a people united in solidarity and struggle end up so divided?In this first-hand account, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his insights as a sociologist of Iran with his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran. Attentive to the everyday struggles Iranians faced as they searched for ways to learn about and make history despite state surveillance and censorship, The Loneliest Revolution revisits questions of leftist failure and Islamist victory and ultimately asks us all to probe the memories, personal and collective, that we leave unspoken.

Author Biography

Ali Mirsepassi is Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University. He is Director of Iranian Studies Initiative at NYU. Mirsepassi was a 2007-2009 Carnegie Scholar and is the co-editor, with Arshin Adib-Moghadam, of The Global Middle East, a book series published by the Cambridge University Press. His recent books include, The Discovery of Iran: Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan (Stanford University Press, Fall 2021); and Iran's Quiet Revolution: The Downfall of the Pahlavi State (October 2019, Cambridge University Press).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Utopia in Ruin, 1978 The chapter opens with a fall day thatbegan like any other and ended in catastrophe. After speaking at auniversity protest, Mirsepassi finds himself immobilized in a garbagedump on the outskirts of Tehran. Despite numerous stab wounds (which helater learns were inflicted by a group of Khomeinists incensed by hispublic opposition to their leader), he recovers, only to resolve to leaveIran on the cusp of the revolution. The author then recounts his decisionto write an autobiographical account of his participation in therevolution. Chapter 1: Dorud & Nahavand, 1957-64 This chapter offers a snapshot of theauthor''s family history. His father, who worked in Iran''s Ministry ofFinance, found reason to admire the Pahlavi state''s modernizing ambitionsas a member of Iran''s burgeoning bureaucracy. His mother, as a daughterof a forcibly sedentarized tribe, offers a glimpse at the coerciveunderbelly of Pahlavi progress and introduces the author as a child tothe language of ghorbat or alienation. The chapter ends byprofiling some of the authors, Iranian and international, formative to hisadolescent thinking about what constitutes home and community. Chapter 2: Golpayegan, 1965-1969 When his father takes up a new positionin the neighbouring town of Golpayegan, Mirsepassi is once again uprootedfrom his high school community. In Golpayegan, he continues to absorb allthe information he can via radio and print about the liberation strugglesof the 1960s. He also finds in his new environment a group of teacherswho take him in and aid in his political maturation. One of theseteachers, a pious man, introduces him to the fulminating, anti-Pahlavisermons of the cleric Mohammad Taqi Falsafi, while two other teachers, apair of Marxists from Tehran, sneak him a copy of Lenin''s State andRevolution . Disaffected by his religious teacher''s rigid conservatism,Mirsepassi accepts an invitation to join a Hojjaitiyeh meeting, only tolearn that the underground group was fiercely anti-Bahai and was meetingto plan a bombing attack on a local Bahai family''s house. Chapter 3: Tehran, 1969-1973 This chapter takes readers to Tehran,where Mirsepassi has been admitted to study political science at theUniversity of Tehran. Mirsepassithen discusses his interaction with student protesters and activistorganizations like the Palestine Group, which convinces him to take theside of the latter in the Islamist vs. leftist divide that had been thesource of personal political confusion for years. Chapter 4: Tehran Revisited, 1977-1979 After completing his compulsory militaryservice and a short stint of studies in the UK, Mirsepassi postpones hisplans for graduate studies and returns to Iran upon hearing that thecountry may well be on the precipice of revolution. Fissures between Islamistsand leftists, however, starts to surface, and Mirsepassi and otherleftists fret about their inability to challenge growing Islamistpopularity, given the systematic erosion of leftist organizationalcapacities by the state through exile, imprisonment, and torture. Thechapter ends with an account of two spectacular public events: one, amassive gathering of people in a working-class district of Tehran to hearTaqi Falsafi speaks, and another a protest at the Behesht-e Zahracemetery, where the University of Tehran professor Homa Nategh summarilydismissed questions from foreign journalists about Islam''s view of womenas essentializing. Mirsepassi reflects on the haste with which leftistactivists dismissed these questions and their meaning for the trajectoryof the revolution. Chapter 5: Farewell, Iran, 1979 This chapter returns readers to theeventful fall day in 1978 that resulted in Mirsepassi''s sudden exit fromIran. It explores the simultaneous feelings of exhilaration and confusionthat gripped protestors who sensed the fall of the regime was imminentbut had no sense of what sort of government would form in its aftermath.The question of how to influence these developments, Mirsepassi recounts,was equally opaque, given the growing bloc of Khomeinists who refused tocompromise on the point of Khomeini''s right to lead the revolution. Inthis context, it explains the lead up to the Khomeinist''s attack onMirsepassi which left him for dead. Conclusion: East Coast, U.S., 1979-2021 Given the haste with which Mirsepassileft Iran, this chapter explores the life of some of his mentors andinterlocutors after the revolution. The lives of some ended in prematuredeath and disaster, while others learned how to reconcile themselves tothe demands of the new regime to continue living in Iran. It concludeswith a reflection of the value of memories to piecing together a fuller,more holistic history of the revolution, one which does not bury orrenounce the missteps of the parties involved, but bares them all forexamination. Bibliography

Review

"The prose of our historiography is changing. Solid scholars with an impeccable academic background are turning to the more publicly accessible genre of memoir, and Ali Mirsepassi's exceptionally insightful new book is a vintage of such fruitful prose. Deeply erudite, and yet intimate, endearing, and irresistibly readable, The Loneliest Revolution charts a whole new way of writing history. A bravura performance! ?" -Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University

Review Quote

The prose of our historiography is changing. Solid scholars with an impeccable academic background are turning to the more publicly accessible genre of memoir, and Ali Mirsepassi's exceptionally insightful new book is a vintage of such fruitful prose. Deeply erudite, and yet intimate, endearing, and irresistibly readable, The Loneliest Revolution charts a whole new way fo writing history. A bravura performance! ?

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A memoir of life in Iran in the tumultuous years leading up to the 1979 Revolution

Description for Reader

A memoir of life in Iran in the tumultuous years leading up to the 1979 revolution Recounts the political contests between Islamists, leftists, and others culminating in one of the twentieth century's most surprising revolutions Combines the sensitivity of a memoir with the expertise of a scholarly study to explore lesser-known figures and events in the Iranian revolution's history Shifts the center of Iran's revolutionary history away from its capital to its provinces in an attempt to show how the global and local interacted at multiple levels In October 1978, a day that started like any other for Ali Mirsepassi - full of anti-Shah protests - ended in near death. He was stabbed and dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Tehran for having spoken against Khomeini. In this book, Mirsepassi digs up this and other painful memories to ask: How did the Iranian revolutionary movement come to this? How did a people united in solidarity and struggle end up so divided? In this first-hand account, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his insights as a sociologist of Iran with his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran. Attentive to the everyday struggles Iranians faced as they searched for ways to learn about and make history despite state surveillance and censorship, The Loneliest Revolution revisits questions of leftist failure and Islamist victory and ultimately asks us all to probe the memories, personal and collective, that we leave unspoken.

Feature

Recounts the political contests between Islamists, leftists, and others culminating in one of the twentieth century's most surprising revolutions Combines the sensitivity of a memoir with the expertise of a scholarly study to explore lesser-known figures and events in the Iranian revolution's history Shifts the center of Iran's revolutionary history away from its capital to its provinces in an attempt to show how the global and local interacted at multiple levels

Description for Sales People

Recounts the political contests between Islamists, leftists and others culminating in one of the twentieth century's most surprising revolutions Combines the sensitivity of a memoir with the expertise of a scholarly study to explore lesser-known figures and events in the Iranian revolution's history Shifts the centre of Iran's revolutionary history away from its capital to its provinces in an attempt to show how the global and local interacted at multiple levels

Description for Teachers/Educators

History of Iran; 20th-century Iran; 20th-century revolutions; History of the Middle East

Details ISBN1399511424 Author Ali Mirsepassi Short Title A Fall Day In 1978 Pages 256 Publisher Edinburgh University Press Language English Year 2023 ISBN-10 1399511424 ISBN-13 9781399511421 Format Paperback Imprint Edinburgh University Press Place of Publication Edinburgh Country of Publication United Kingdom Publication Date 2023-03-31 AU Release Date 2023-03-31 NZ Release Date 2023-03-31 UK Release Date 2023-03-31 Series Edinburgh Historical Studies of Iran and the Persian World Subtitle A Memoir of Solidarity and Struggle in Iran DEWEY 955.0542 Illustrations 27 B/W illustrations 27 black and white photos Audience Tertiary & Higher Education We've got this

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