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The "Great Satan" vs. the "Mad Mullahs" How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other
Book Code: C8214
ISBN: 0-275-98214-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98214-0
316 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 9/30/2005
List Price: $51.95 (UK Sterling Price: £29.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • Regardless of the reader's viewpoint, this book is a challenging analysis by an anthropologist of an international conflict that threatens to get out of control. For that reason alone, this is a timely book.
    —MultiCultural Review
    Fall 2006
  • [B]eeman is a good writer, who eschews the scholarly jargon that frequently makes academic books and articles unintelligble to all but specialists in a specific field. He is writing for the non-specialist, and he is more interested in informing the reader than in impressing his peers. The other strength of the book lies in the author's knowledge of Iranian history and culture. Beeman's discussion of economic development under the Pahlavi monarchy and how Americans in the country lived at the time is imformative, and his observation that "Iranians hate being told what to do by people with whom they have no relationship" should be taken under advisement by everybody....The "Great Satan" vs. the "Mad Mullahs" raises many questions and is problematic, those are additional reasons for reading it. It challenges the reader and forces him to question stereotypes about Iran and Washington's perspective on the country. It also encourages the reader to consider Tehran's perceptions.
    —Middle East Journal
    Spring 2006
  • Endorsement From Michael M. J. Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science Technology Studies
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuity:
    Bill Beeman, the author of the classic text, Language, Status and Power in Iran, returns now with a provocative and timely analysis of why Iranian and U.S. diplomats are caught in vicious circles of cultural miscommunication and mutual demonization. Must reading for diplomats, policy wonks, pundits, and concerned citizens.
  • Endorsement From James Peacock
    Kenan Professor of Anthropology
    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:
    William Beeman's analysis of dissonant perceptions of Iran and USA is compelling and important for everyone, citizen or policyshaper, who wishes to understand or influence relations between Islam, Iran, and us. He speaks knowledgeably, wisely, and plainly, based on direct experience.... I am particularly grateful for this work.
  • Endorsement From Mary Catherine Bateson
    author of Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery:
    William Beeman stands first among American anthropologists in applying an understanding of cultural patterns to foreign policy, especially in connecting conflicts between Iran and the United States with underlying differences in patterns of thought and expression. Everyone concerned with policy making and reporting on the Middle East needs to study his thoughtful analyses.
  • Endorsement From Marvin Zonis
    Graduate School of Business
    University of Chicago:
    Bill Beeman is perfectly attuned to Iran's secular and Shi'ite cultures. He has translated his profound 'feel' for Iran into a work that makes it possible for an American audience to understand and even empathize with Iranians. Until the United States Government is capable of doing that, however, little progress can be made in fashioning a new relation with Iran.
  • Endorsement From R. K. Ramazani
    Edward R. Stettinius Professor Emeritus of Politics
    University of Virginia:
    If you want to know why we are so ignorant about the United States-Iran relations, read this book. Never before has the mutual demonization between these two governments been so systematically described and analyzed from an anthropological perspective. Rooted in their histories, mythologies, and cultures, the conflict between them, the author argues, is essentially symbolic rather than substantive. Therefore, reconciliation between the two countries is 'inevitable,' but the challenge ahead lies in finding a way to make it happen.
Description: The United States and Iran have been estranged for 25 years. They have carried out a mutual process of demonization that is unprecedented in modern history, based on cultural "hot buttons" that have the power to galvanize the populations of both countries. Iranian leaders have characterized the United States as the Great Satan--an evil corruptor that pollutes society and destroys personal morality. These leaders readily make the analogy between the United States and the Umayyid rulers who in 680 C.E. killed the Imam Hussein, the central religious figure in the history of the Iranian state religion, Twelver Shi'ism. American leaders characterize the members of the current government of the Islamic Republic of Iran as "Mad Mullahs," wild-eyed and irrational. They accuse them of fomenting the hostage crisis, in which American embassy personnel were held for 444 days at the end of the Carter administration, dealing a severe blow to U.S. national honor. The Bush administration has further accused the Iranians of being part of an "Axis of Evil" on the basis of their alleged support of terrorists, oppression of women and minorities, and development of nuclear weapons. Giving a thorough account of the background of U.S.-Iranian relations, Beeman claims that the current accusations of both Iran and the United States are baseless, consisting largely of public invective and symbolic rhetoric according to their own mythologies of evil.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction: Discourse and Demonization
  • American Myths
  • Middle Eastern Myths
  • Discourse and Rhetoric
  • Images of the Great Satan
  • Images of the Mad Mullah
  • The Framework of U.S. Iranian Relations
  • The Sins of the United States
  • The Sins of Iran
  • The Birth of Post-modern Conflict: How Iranian Media Came of Age
  • Living with Iran: Resistance as Post-modern Discourse
LC Card Number: 2005003454
LCC Class: E183
Dewey Class: 327
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