8 vo. xiv, [3], 314 pp; 3 b/w plates, 10 tables, 5 figures, cloth in d/w, previous owner’s name inscribed verso front & lower cover, biblio, index, Harvard University Press, 1980.

Synopsis

The book was the first to appear since the revolution which makes a serious attempt to decode Shi’ite culture and belief in a way that reveals its explosive political implications. The book is based upon extensive fieldwork carried out in Iran before the revolution. Anthropologist Fischer’s rich experience with the mullahs and their students in the holy city of Qum permits him to compose a picture of Iranian society from the inside – the lives of ordinary people, the way that each class interprets Islam, the role of religion and religious education in the culture. The result is a dynamic view of a society on the verge of metamorphosis.