سردبير: خودم

He isn't as critical of Rafsanjani as some would like him to be, but he doesn't have any illusions about him either and explicitly mentions Rafsanjani's association with corruption if I remember correctly. If he omits all the negative things that can be said about Rafsanji, I believe the reason is, first, he isn't going to forget what happened when the reformists boycotted the elections and, second, he sees Mesbah Yazdi wating in the wings. I'm not clear on why you think the last part of the book constitutes classic American opposition type rhetoric. The American opposition, every time they hear Ahmadinejad's name, go into epileptic convulsions. Hamid Dabashi, on the other hand, very aptly characterizes him as a kind of everyman. What part of that characterization is American opposition like? His characterization of Khomeini as priest who was deeply resentful of the shah for kicking him out of his own country is also quite accurate. Were you expecting him to call Khomeini some kind post-colonial guru? Hamid Dabashi has spent the last decade or two in conversation with people who literally wrote the book on postcolonialsm, and he knows quite well that Khomeini's world view was something quite distinct from the post-colonialist's. I would agree that what Khomeini means to history is not clear yet, and perhaps the word for what he did hasn't even been invented yet. Now, I'm not saying Hamid Dabashi is like Che Guevera or anything, but characterizing him as someone who toes the line of the standard American opposition is simply inaccurate. You mean he should be placed in the same boat as, say, Azar Nafisi? Because what Azar Nafisi says is a hell of a lot closer to the standard opposition rhetoric than anything Hamid Dabashi says.

بره ایران که این رو هم بگیرن بندازن تو اوین؟ دلت خوشه پدرجان...

"اين موضوع مربوط به امروز و ديروز نيست. دو هزار سال است كه آمريكا ما را استعمار كرده است"

ديدار با دانشجويان خط امام پس از گروگانگيري اعضاي سفارت آمريكا، جماران، 19 آبان 1358

پزشكي:

"امروز بر دكترهاي كشور ثابت شده كه براي علاج ناخوشيهايي مثل تيفوس و تيفوئيد (حصبه) چاره اي جز عمل كردن به طبق دستورات يوناني نيست و علاجهاي اروپايي نميتوانند كاري به اينگونه مرضها بكنند"

كشف الاسرار نوشته امام خميني، صفحه 280

بالاخره نشستی یه کتاب خوندی!

and you muddafucker should go to iran and let ahmadinejad kick your ass and then you will find out about every thing. why dont YOU go to iran? do not you have balls? so how can you judge about iran while you are not living there? when was the last time when you visited iran? if one should go to iran and then judge about the sitaution in iran then you should fuck up and do not talk about iran. how do you dumbass idiot get your facts about iran? you dog just go to iran once and then judge about it.

He clearly is biased in some of his analyses but his book is overall a very good response to the conservative oriental accounts of Iranian history that are plentiful. Dabashi is very emotional about the course of events in the history of the country he loves and unfortunately his emotions sometimes obscure the evidence-based analysis you expect from him.

In fairness to him, though, this is not meant to be an academic book, but one for people who know little about Iran's history and the book does a pretty good job in serving its purpose.

I agree with you. First i recommended this book to our second generation youth (English reader only) based on my reading of the first few chapters. But when i finished reading the book i had the same feeling like h.d. I think Mr. Dabashi is a very distinguished and talented Iranian intellectual but very much influenced by Marxist left rhetoric when it comes to Iranian politics. However, I finished the book and enjoyed it and sometimes was irritated. It also helped the kids that have grown up in the US to know about their historic roots in a book written in English. It is sad that, when it come to the Iranian history in last 30 years, the readers will only hear the echos of their parents, monarchist and defeated left...Nothing serious to lead our new generation toward a thoughtful study of Iranian revolution.

Peace