Subtitled, 'Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic', Takeyh explains the historical, political and diplomatic reasons why the USA and Iran have had such a consistently dysfunctional relationship over the past 60 years. Although published in 2006, Takeyh shows why the present belligerent empasse with Israel was all but inevitable, and why US policy toward Iran must change if we are to avert another war in the Middle East. His concluding chapter 'Getting Iran Right' could have been written yesterday. It should be required reading of every US politician.
A synopsis of the book is available here and excerpts may be read here.
Born in Tehran, Ray Takeya is a senior fellow at the US Council on Foreign Relations, where he concentrates his work on Iran, Islamist movements and Middle Eastern politics. He has held positions at the National Defense University, Yale and Berkeley. His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.
The Council on Foreign Relations review observes,
In Hidden Iran, Ray Takeyh has written a groundbreaking book that reveals how the underappreciated domestic political rivalries within Iran serve to explain the country's behavior on the world stage. A leading expert on Iran's politics and history, Takeyh shows why this country has so often confounded American expectations and inspired a long series of misguided U.S. policies that continue to this day. And yet there is a hidden Iran beyond what we see on the news or hear about from American politicians, one in which political factions jockey for power and influence, politicians fall out of favor only to reemerge a few years later, and the hard-liners, the pragmatists, and the reformers tend to counterbalance one another in the government.
The Amazon review concludes,
Ray Takeyh, a leading expert on Iran's politics and history, has written a groundbreaking book that demystifies the Iranian regime and shows how the fault lines of Iran's domestic politics serve to explain its behaviour. In "Hidden Iran", he explains why this country has so often confounded American expectations and why its outward hostility does not necessarily preclude the normalisation of relations. Through a clearer understanding of the competing claims of Muslim theology, Republican pragmatism and factional competition, he offers a new paradigm for managing Western relations with a rising and largely unknown power.
"Savvy and accessible . . . Takeyh has written a shrewd, timely guide to Iran's schisms, interests and ambitions, as well as offering a bracing and often nicely acerbic look at U.S.-Iranian relations." --Warren Bass, "The Washington Post Book World"
""Hidden Iran" is a skillful policy brief, written in a smooth, graceful style that is accessible to nonspecialists. Takeyh does not underestimate how difficult it is for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America to find ways of dealing with each other, but he demonstrates persuasively that a policy of more of the same will only produce more of the same." --Gary Sick, "Foreign Affairs"
