Political upheaval has marked Iran's history throughout the twentieth century. Wars, revolutions, coups and the impact of modernism have shaped Iran's historiography, as they have the country's history. Originally based on oral and written sources, which underpinned traditional genealogical and dynastic history, Iran's historiography was transformed in early 20th century with development of a "new" school of presenting history. Here emphasis shifted from anecdotal story-telling genre to social, political, economic, cultural and religious history writing. A new understanding of the nation state and the importance of identity and foreign relations in defining Iran's place in modern world all served to transform the perspective of Iranian historiography. Touraj Atabaki here brings together a range of rich contributions from international scholars who cover the leading themes of the historiography of 20th-century Iran, including constitutional reform and revolution, literature and architecture, identity, women and gender, nationalism, modernism, Orientalism, Marxism and Islamism--Publisher's description.

Historiography of twentieth century Iran : memory, amnesia and invention /Touraj Atabaki -- Historiography and crafting Iranian national identity / Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi -- Memory and amnesia in the historiography of the Constitutional Revolution / Abbas Amanat -- Disintegrating the "discourse of disintegration' : some reflections on the historiography of the late Qajar period and Iranian Cultural memory / Oliver Bast -- Agency and subjectivity in Iranian national historiography / Touraj Atabaki -- Nation's poet : Ferdowsi and the Iranian national imagination / Afshin Marashi -- Pahlavi school of historiography on the Pahlavi era / Kaveh Bayat -- Architectural historiography 1921-42 / Kamran Safamanesh -- Paranoid style in Iranian historiography / Houchang E. Chehabi -- Women, gender, and sexuality in historiography of modern Iran / Mana Kia, Afsaneh Najmabadi, and Sima Shakhsari -- Marxism, historiography and historical consciousness in modern Iran : a preliminary study / Afshin Matin-asgari -- Islamist historiography in post-revolutionary Iran / Kamran Scot Aghaie.