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Christopher de Bellaigue: Patriot of Persia

As international tension over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions continues to grow, it is more important than ever to examine Iran’s national history and find clues to this complex country.The Economist’s Tehran correspondent Christopher de Bellaigue helps us to do so in Patriot of Persia, the first biography exploring the life and impact of one of the greatest anti-colonial heroes of the 20th century: Muhammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh was the Iranian leader whose demise ultimately resulted in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and a man who has been demonized, ridiculed, and misunderstood in the West while remaining an icon and an inspiration across the Middle East. Patriot of Persia opens a crucial new window into Mossadegh — whose role in the evolution of Iran’s political climate cannot be overemphasized — providing a resource that will prove equally invaluable to academics, policy experts and activists wanting to understand Middle East politics, Iran and the future of the region — and the world.

Christopher de Bellaigue has spent the past decade working as a journalist in the Middle East and South Asia, and his work has appeared in The Economist, the New York Review of Books,Granta, and The New Yorker. In addition to Patriot of Persia, he is the author of Rebel Land: Among Turkey’s Forgotten People, The Struggle for Iran and In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. He will be joined in discussion with Suzanne DiMaggio, Asia Society’s Vice President for Global Policy Programs, and author of “The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy.”











When: Tue., May. 15, 2012 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave.
212-288-6400
Price: $15
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As international tension over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions continues to grow, it is more important than ever to examine Iran’s national history and find clues to this complex country.The Economist’s Tehran correspondent Christopher de Bellaigue helps us to do so in Patriot of Persia, the first biography exploring the life and impact of one of the greatest anti-colonial heroes of the 20th century: Muhammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh was the Iranian leader whose demise ultimately resulted in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and a man who has been demonized, ridiculed, and misunderstood in the West while remaining an icon and an inspiration across the Middle East. Patriot of Persia opens a crucial new window into Mossadegh — whose role in the evolution of Iran’s political climate cannot be overemphasized — providing a resource that will prove equally invaluable to academics, policy experts and activists wanting to understand Middle East politics, Iran and the future of the region — and the world.

Christopher de Bellaigue has spent the past decade working as a journalist in the Middle East and South Asia, and his work has appeared in The Economist, the New York Review of Books,Granta, and The New Yorker. In addition to Patriot of Persia, he is the author of Rebel Land: Among Turkey’s Forgotten People, The Struggle for Iran and In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. He will be joined in discussion with Suzanne DiMaggio, Asia Society’s Vice President for Global Policy Programs, and author of “The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy.”

Buy tickets/get more info now