US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution: The Cold War Dynamics of Engagement and Strategic Alliance [Hardcover]

This book provides a fresh perspective on the origins of the confrontation between the US and Iran. It demonstrates that, contrary to the claims of Iran's leaders, there was no instinctive American hostility towards the Revolution, and explains why many assumptions guiding US policy were inappropriate for dealing with the new reality in Iran.Introduction PART I: THE ORIGINS OF ENGAGEMENT 1. The Collapse of US Policy 1977-79 2. Framing the Revolution as a Cold War Crisis 3. US-Iranian Elite Interactions and the Pathologies of Engagement PART II: THE DYNAMICS OF ENGAGEMENT 4. Putting Engagement into Practise 5. The CIA and Engagement PART III: ENGAGEMENT HELD HOSTAGE 6. Re-evaluating US Policy after the Hostage Crisis 7. Viewing Afghanistan through the prism of Iran 8. US Policy and the Iran-Iraq War 1980-81 Conclusion Appendix: Note on Primary Sources

An impressive, must-read book - every page from Chris Emery offers information and an analysis of US-Iranian relations which avoid simple judgements and offers thoughtful insight instead. This will become the definitive work on America's tense, often disastrous relations with the young Islamic Republic, and it is just as relevant for those considering the wary manoeuvring between Washington and Tehran today. - Professor Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham, UK

The book represents a much-needed and unbiased analysis of the strategic and domestic pressures driving US engagement with Iran; a book that members of the Obama Administration should read if engagement with Iran is to continue. Luca Trenta, University of Nottingham, UK

The British scholar Christian Emery, lecturer at the University of Plymouth, has produced a dispassionate, scholarly and balanced account of a very difficult episode in American foreign policy. ... Emery does a great service by stepping back from the polemics and bringing his considerable gifts for clarity and analysis to the question. He shows us tl£B