8vo. xxii, 550 pp., colour frontis; tables, colour & b/w illus; endpaper maps, cloth, appendix, biblio, index, copy in very good condition, Hoover Institution Press, California, 1978.

Synopsis

Under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, within the span of half a century, Iran emerged from semi medieval slumber and backwardness to become one of the most rapidly modernizing nations in the Persian Gulf region. Twelve scholars here tell the story of this dramatic resurgence of a nation. The book’s opening and closing chapters focus on the leadership of the two Pahlavi monarchs: the founder of the dynasty, Reza Shah the Great; and his son and successor, Mohammad Reza Shah Aryamehr.
Contents:
From assertion of independence to the white revolution / George Lenczowski — Reza Shah the great : founder of the Pahlavi dynasty / L.P. Elwell-Sutton — The tradition of sacred kingship in Iran / Pio Filippani-Ronconi — Social development in Iran during the Pahlavi era / Roger M. Savory — The Iranian economy 1925-1975 : fifty years of economic development / Charles Issawi — Development and planning in Iran after World War II / Harald Mehner — The evolution of Iranian oil policy, 1925-1975 / Robert B. Stobaugh — Land reforms of Shah and people / D.R. Denman — Educational and cultural development in Iran during the Pahlavi era / Wilhelm Eilers — The literary genres in modern Iran / Peter Chelkowski — Iran’s foreign policy in the Pahlavi era / William E. Griffith — Iran’s armed forces under the Pahlavi dynasty / Alvin J. Cottrell — Political process and institutions in Iran : the second Pahlavi kingship / George Lenczowski.