Department of History Fall 2026
History 497 War and Revolution in Modern Iran
Instructor: Juan Cole
Office hrs. Weds. 2:30-3:30 2527 Haven or Zoom (inquire).
U-M uniquename: jrcole
Course Description:
This exciting Discussion course covers modern Iran's history of wars and revolutions, right up to the present day. We look at demands for a constitution and a rule of law, at the CIA coup of 1953, at the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988, as well as involvement in the Iraq War and combatting ISIS, the Green Movement for more civil liberties, the Women, Life, Freedom protests, and the US-Israeli-Iran Wars of 2025-2026.This course will be based on class attendance and participation and participation in a weekly written Discussion at Canvas, which are mandatory, and a research term paper.
Readings
Books at Barnes and Nobles
Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge, rev. edn., 2018) ISBN 1316648141; online at Mirlyn.
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2004. ISBN: 037571457X
Anthony Tucker-Jones, Iran–Iraq War: The Lion of Babylon, 1980–1988 (Cold War, 1945–1991) (Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, 2018) ISBN 152672857 by
Aug. 31 Orientation
Sept. 7 LABOR DAY
Sept. 14 Constitutional Revolution
Abrahamian, Modern Iran, chapter 2: Reform, Revolution and the Great War
A.N. Fuad et al., "Religio-Political and Economic Backdrops of Constitutionalism in Iran," Islamic History and Literature 2, no. 2 (2024): 73-86
Mohammad Bitarafan, Sohrab Yazdani, and Hossein Sheiban, "Controversy over the Concept 'Freedom' during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906–09)," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 46, no. 1 (2019): 1-13
Sept. 21 - Jangalis and Gilan Republic
Kayhan A. Nejad, "The Jangal Movement and Regional Revolutionaries in Northern Iran, 1914-1921," in The Caspian World: Connections and Contentions at a Modern Eurasian Crossroads, ed. Abbas Amanat, Kevin Gledhill, and Kayhan A. Nejad (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2025), 292-308. Open Access
Pezhmann Dailami, "The First Congress of the Peoples of the East and the Iranian Soviet Republic of Gilan, 1920-21," in Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left, ed. Stephanie Cronin (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), 85-117.
Kayhan A. Nejad, "Provincial Revolution and Regional Anti-Colonialism: The Soviets in Iran, 1920-1921," Slavic Review 82, no. 2 (Summer 2023): 378-400
Bozorg Alavi, "The Man from Gilan," Major Voices in Contemporary Persian Literature, Literature East and West, ed. Michael Hillman, vol. 20, nos. 1-4, 1:85-98 in Canvas under File.
Sept. 28 Rise of Reza Shah
Abrahamian, "The Iron Fist of Reza Shah." Chapter 3
Sadegh Hedayat, "Seeking Absolution" trans. Minoo Southgate, Iranian Studies, 9, 1 (1976): 49-59.
Oct. 5 Mosaddegh, Oil Nationalization, CIA Coup
Abrahamian, "The Nationalist Interregnum, Chapter 4"
CIA History, 2011.
Oct. 12 Islamic Revolution of 1979
Abrahamian, Modern Iran, "The Islamic Republic," pp. 159-202
Marjan Satrapi, Persepolis
Oct. 19 FALL BREAK
Oct. 26 Iran-Iraq War Pt. 1
Tucker-Jones, Iran–Iraq War, first half.
Abbas Kazerooni, "The Little Man, Chapter 1, at The Iranian.
Nov. 2 Iran-Iraq War Pt. 2
Tucker-Jones, Iran–Iraq War, second half.
Nov. 9 Green Revolution
Mahmood Monshipouri and Ali Assareh, "The Islamic Republic and the Green Movement: Coming Full Circle," Middle East Policy 16:4 (2009), pp. 27–46
Kevan Harris, "The Brokered Exuberance of the Middle Class: An Ethnographic Analysis of Iran's 2009 Green Movement," Mobilization 17:4 (2012), pp. 435–455Arash Reisinezhad, "The Iranian Green Movement: Fragmented Collective Action and Fragile Collective Identity," Iranian Studies 48:2 (2015), pp. pp. 193–222.
Pouya Alimagham "On the Streets and Beyond: Crowd Action and the Symbolic Appropriation of the Past," in Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings, Cambridge, 2020.
Nov. 23 Iraq, the Taliban and ISIL
Dobbins, J. (2010). "Negotiating with Iran: Reflections from Personal Experience". The Washington Quarterly, 33(1), 149–162.
DINA ESFANDIARY, ARIANE TABATABAI, "Iran's ISIS policy," International Affairs, Volume 91, Issue 1, January 2015, Pages 1–15.
Arif, B. H. (2019). "IRAN’S STRUGGLE FOR STRATEGIC DOMINANCE IN A POST-ISIS IRAQ". Asian Affairs, 50(3), 344–363.A. Farid Tookhy, "Iran’s Response to the Taliban’s Comeback in Afghanistan," US Institute for Peace, August 2022
Nov. 30 Woman, Life, Freedom
Janet Afary, Kevin B. Anderson, "Woman, Life, Freedom: The Origins of the Uprising in Iran," Dissent 70, 1 (Winter 2023): 82-98
Yalda N. Hamidi, "Woman, Life, Freedom, and the Question of Multiculturalism in Iranian Studies," International Journal of Middle East Studies, 55 (2023), 744–748.
FATEMEH OUDLAJAN, "Visibility Under Constraint: Format Publics and the Politics of Visibility on TikTok Protest Videos During the Mahsa Amini Movement in Iran," International Journal of Communication 20 (2026), 1331–1361
DW, "Why the World’s First Feminist Revolution is Happening in Iran" Short Doc, (YouTube). 17 minutes.
Dec 7 The 2025-2026 US-Israeli Wars on Iran
TBA
Academic Integrity Policy: History 231 follows the academic integrity guidelines set forth by the College of LSA Academic Integrity site. Students should familiarize themselves with this document, which explains the standards of academic integrity and clarifies the prohibited forms of academic misconduct. Students in History 231 should utilize the Chicago Manual of Style Online [or alternative guides] for all issues of source citation, along with any specific guidelines provided in the course assignments. Clarifying the disciplinary standards of research ethics and source citation is part of the educational mission of this course, and students should consult the faculty instructor and/or GSI regarding any questions. The penalties for deliberate cases of plagiarism and/or other forms of academic misconduct are failing the course. Cases that the instructor judges to be particularly serious, or those in which the student contests the charge of academic misconduct, will be handled by the office of the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education. All cases of deliberate academic misconduct that result in formal sanctions of any kind will be reported to the dean's office, as required by LSA policy, which also ensures due process rights of appeal for students.