ISS Book Series: Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet

Description:

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet joins International Security Studies to discuss her new book Heroes to Hostages: America and Iran, 1800–1988 (Cambridge University Press). Heroes to Hostages traces the US-Iran relationship over the course of two turbulent centuries. With careful attention to social and cultural as well as diplomatic developments, Kashani-Sabet shows that the rift did not originate in flashpoints of crisis but was long in the making. Drawing from a wealth of English and Persian-language sources, the book considers the relationship from the vantage point of Iranian society and the experiences of an evolving Iran that strived to accommodate American and great power politics.

Kashani-Sabet is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on various aspects of modern Middle Eastern history including ethnic and political conflicts, borderlands, identity politics, and gender and women’s issues. She will be in conversation with Paul Kennedy, founding director of International Security Studies and J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History.