8vo. ix, 332 pp; frontispiece map, cloth, gilt title, previous owner’s name inscribed verso front & lower cover, index, copy in mint condition, University of Pittsburgh Press, updated through 1978, Pittsburgh & London, 1979.

Synopsis

For a brief period in the early 1950s, Iranian nationalism captured the world’s attention as, under the leadership of Mohammad Mossadeq, the Iranian National Movement tried to liberate Iran from British imperialism. Regarding nationalism as a major determinant of the attitudes and loyalties of those who embrace it, Cottam analyzes the complex religious, national, and social values at work within Iran and examines, more generally, the turbulence of nationalism in developing states and its perplexing problems for American foreign policy. In a new 40-page chapter, added in 1978, Cottam updated his pioneering study by examining the condition of Iran fifteen years after his first analysis-from its rapid economic growth as an oil producer to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s unsuccessful efforts to rouse nationalistic sentiment in his favor.
Review: “This is the first comprehensive and systematic study of Iranian nationalism. . . . Cottam has daringly and imaginatively analyzed nationalism in Iran. . . . It is heartening to note that an American scholar has drawn so painstakingly on Iranian sources without fallen victim to the pitfalls of such an intellectual adventure. This book is to be commended enthusiastically to the layman and specialist alike.” –The Middle East Journal “A veritable gold mine of interesting, valuable, and accurate information about Iran since 1900.” –Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.