Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic

"Fanatic," "dogmatic," "fundamentalist"—these are the words most often used in the West to describe the Ayatollah Khomeini. The essays in this book challenge that view, arguing that Khomeini and his Islamic movement should be seen as a form of Third World political populism—a radical but pragmatic middle-class movement that strives to enter, rather than reject, the modern age.

Ervand Abrahamian, while critical of Khomeini, asks us to look directly at the Ayatollah's own works and to understa...