Iran: A Short History. Monika Gronke

No country in the Islamic Middle East presents as unique and distinguished a history and culture as Iran, which has managed to maintain its inherent characteristics — some of them from pre-Islamic times — over the course of centuries of changing dynasties and rulers. The Shiite faith, the official religion of Persia/Iran since 1501, stands in contrast to the Sunni Islam which dominates the greater region. Although in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Iran endured ongoing political, mil...