Homa Katouzian, "Iran and the Revolution: A History" (Yale UP, 2026)

About this episode

Homa Katouzian discusses his book on the history of Iran and its modern challenges.

Iran is, once again, in global headlines, following U.S. strikes on the country earlier this year. Operation Epic Fury, as the Department of Defense called it, is the latest twist in Iran’s modern history, starting from the coup that brought the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power, through the 1956 coup against Mossadegh and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, to the present day’s tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. Homa Katouzian looks at this history in his latest book Iran and the Revolution: A History (Yale University Press, 2026), where he posits that Iran is a “short-term society,” one that lacks long-term continuity. We recorded this interview on May 18th, 2026. Homa is a member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, and a visiting scholar at the Department of History, University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books, including Iran: Politics, History and Literature (Routledge: 2012), Iran: A Beginners’ Guide (Oneworld Publications: 2013), and The Persians (Yale University Press: 2009). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Iran and the Revolution. Follow on…

People in this episode

Host: Nicholas Gordon

Guest: Homa Katouzian

Topics covered

• Iranian history
• U.S.-Iran relations
• Iranian Revolution
• nuclear program
• Middle Eastern studies

Keywords

• Iran
• Revolution
• history
• nuclear program
• Homa Katouzian
• Middle East

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oxford, Department of History, University of Toronto, Yale University Press

Books & works: Iran and the Revolution: A History, Iran: Politics, History and Literature, Iran: A Beginners’ Guide, The Persians

Places: Iran

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