Description: Philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and Le Nouvel Observateur in 1978 when the protests against the shah of Iran reached their zenith. During this little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. These provocative writings, included here in their entirety as annotated translations, are essential for understanding the history and the future of the West's relationship with Iran and, more generally, to political Islam.
Brief description: Kevin B. Anderson is professor of sociology, political science, and feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is coauthor, with Janet Afary, of Foucault and the Iranian Revolution.
Review Quotes: "I am very impressed by the authors' clarity of thought, meticulousness of research, and important insights. Their book's originality lies in the way it links Foucault's main ideas to the Iranian revolution, thereby illuminating one through the other. The authors remind us of Foucault's immense influence in the current debates on Islamism and Iran."--Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran