Reese Erlich masterfully tells the story of modern Iran through the seldom-heard voices of numerous Iranian citizens of enormous range—men and women, old and young, high government officials, university professors, shopkeepers, and semi-employed laborers. His vibrant reporting has both historical depth and contemporary immediacy, ranging from twentieth century neocolonial and revolutionary struggles, to the international controversy over Iran’s nuclear program, to the social protests of 2009 and late 2017. Neither exclusively a critique of nor an apologia for Iran, the balanced, comprehensive picture Erlich paints reveals the fascinating mix of deep patriotism, social struggle, optimism, and skepticism about the future that characterizes Iranian life at present. This book is required reading for anyone who truly wishes to understand Iranian society today.
—William O. Beeman, Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota and Stanford University
Ever since the 1979 Revolution Iran has been present in practically all debates and analyses regarding the Middle East. But, due to the hostage crisis of 1979–1981 and the scars that it left on the American conscience, the image of Iran that has been presented in the West, and in particular, the United States, has been greatly distorted, and is more like a cartoon of that nation, rather than anything that presents Iran with all of its strengths, shortcomings, and contradictions, as well as its historical and cultural heritage. In The Iran Agenda Today, Reese Erlich does a masterful job of presenting the real image of Iran: a proud and dynamic nation with a young, educated population that is connected to the rest of the world through social networks, has more blogger per capita than any other nation, and has been struggling, not only internally between the reformists, moderates, and seculars, on the one hand, and the Islamic hardliners, on the other hand, but also externally by being in perhaps the most turbulent region. Erlich tells us about the political structure of Iran; its warring; deep wounds due to its turbulent contemporary history; and all the wrongs that have been done to it by the global powers, but also a nation that has all the prerequisites for transition to a true democracy, and wants to find its rightful place regionally and globally.
—Muhummad Sahimi, N.I.O.C. Chair in Petroleum Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California
Reese Erlich is always in Iran at the historic moments, including nearly all elections of recent years. He has formed a network with all sides of the struggles in Iran and his high art of storytelling captures the details I have not seen from any other Western journalist reporting on the contemporary Iran scene.
Goudarz Eghtedari, PhD, Systems Scientist and Engineer by trade, Social-Political and Human Rights Activist
