Irans Revolution by Charles Kurzman
December 2011
The Unbelievable Revolution is the transliteration of the Persian rendition of Charles Kurzman's book on Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Unthinkable Revolution in Iran.
IBNA: The Persian rendition of the book is prepared by Rashid Jafarpour and Abbas Najafian and is published by the Islamic Revolution Documents Center.
In an interview with IBNA, Jafarpour stated that the volume can be employed as a research reference by sociology students.
As he said, the book provides general analysis of the Islamic Revolution through political, economic, social and religious viewpoints; while books on the Islamic Revolution are usually written with limited prospects.
As Jafarpour argued, Kurzman casts a generalized view on the book and singles out Iran's revolution as one which cannot be fathomed at through one single approach as achievement of such a victory was unthinkable by scholars given the released facts and statistics of that time.
"The US regarded Iran as its stable island which offered palatable economic benefits and Iran's shah was at the height of power, but the revolution canceled all such thinking. In fact, the book's main concern is finding reasons for the happening of such a revolution," he added.
Interviews with Iranians residing in Turkey and other with pro-revolution figures are added to the book's content.
Poor referencing of the claims, depicting the Islamic Revolution Documents Center erroneously and looking daggers at key revolutionary figures are some of the shortcomings of the book, Jafarpour added.
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