Review by Choice Review
Dorraj's premise in this well-written work is that "populism" is an undeveloped field of inquiry in Iranian history. Dorraj explores questions such as the role of religion in Iranian political culture, the origin of Shiite populism and its relevance for today, why the majority of populist Islam's devotees come from the lower classes, the social dynamics of neo-Islamic populism, and the link between populist culture in the 1960s and the character of the 1979 revolution. The author (Texas A & M University) traces the roots of Iranian populism to its Zoroastrian, Manichean, and Mazdaki heritage. He shows convincingly that it is rooted in a long tradition of hero worship and millenarianism, to which Shiite Islam provided a convenient capstone. Dorraj concludes that the ascendancy of the Iranian ulema after 1979 "was neither aberration nor historical accident," and that Iran's history of dissent provided Shiism the ideological banner that led the ulema to seize power. A welcome resource for scholars, students, and researchers to balance a plethora of writings accentuating the perspective of the intelligentsia while ignoring the populist base that made it all possible. Sound documentation; bibliography and index adequate but not extensive. All levels. -C. E. Farah, University of Minnesota
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
