
Iran's Grand Strategy
A Political History
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Narrated by:
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Fajer Al-Kaisi
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By:
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Vali Nasr
About this listen
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Shia Revival
This audiobook narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi overturns simplistic portrayals of Iran as a theocratic pariah state, revealing how its strategic moves on the world stage are driven by two pervasive threats—external aggression and internal dissolution
Iran presents one of the most significant foreign policy challenges for America and the West, yet very little is known about what the country's goals really are. Vali Nasr examines Iran's political history in new ways to explain its actions and ambitions on the world stage, showing how, behind the veneer of theocracy and Islamic ideology, today's Iran is pursuing a grand strategy aimed at securing the country internally and asserting its place in the region and the world.
Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, and original in-depth interviews with Iranian decision makers, Nasr brings to light facts and events in Iran's political history that have been overlooked until now. He traces the roots of Iran's strategic outlook to its experiences over the past four decades of war with Iraq in the 1980s and the subsequent American containment of Iran, invasion of Iraq in 2003, and posture toward Iran thereafter. Nasr reveals how these experiences have shaped a geopolitical outlook driven by pervasive fear of America and its plans for the Middle East.
Challenging the notion that Iran's foreign policy simply reflects its revolutionary values or theocratic government, Iran's Grand Strategy provides invaluable new insights into what Iran wants and why, explaining the country's resistance to the United States, its nuclear ambitions, and its pursuit of influence and proxies across the Middle East.
©2025 Vali Nasr (P)2025 Princeton UniversityListeners also enjoyed...
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- Empire of the Mind
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Darius Joseph
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Iran is a land of contradictions. It is an Islamic republic, but one in which only 1.4 percent of the population attend Friday prayers. Iran's religious culture encompasses the most censorious and dogmatic Shi'a Muslim clerics in the world, yet its poetry insistently dwells on the joys of life: wine, beauty, sex. Iranian women are subject to one of the most restrictive dress codes in the Islamic world, but make up nearly 60 percent of the student population of the nation's universities.
By: Michael Axworthy
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America and Iran
- A History, 1720 to the Present
- By: John Ghazvinian
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 27 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the 18th century - the subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams - and an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
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Distortions Galore
- By Chuck S. on 03-15-21
By: John Ghazvinian
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Words of War
- Negotiation as a Tool of Conflict (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
- By: Eric Min
- Narrated by: Gary Roelofs
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In Words of War, Eric Min pulls back the curtain on when, why, and how belligerents negotiate while fighting. Of all interstate conflicts across the last two centuries, two-thirds have ended through negotiated agreement. Wartime diplomacy is thus commonly seen as a costless and mechanical process solely designed to end fighting. But as Min argues, wartime negotiations are not just peacemaking tools. They are in fact a highly strategic activity that can also help states manage, fight, and potentially win wars.
By: Eric Min
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The Twilight War
- The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
- By: David Crist
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past three decades, the United States and Iran have been engaged in an unacknowledged secret war. This conflict has frustrated five American presidents, divided administrations, and repeatedly threatened to bring the two nations to the brink of open warfare. Drawing upon unparalleled access to senior officials and key documents of several US administrations, David Crist, a senior historian in the federal government, breaks new ground in virtually every section of The Twilight War.
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Most authoritative book on conflict on Iran, hands down.
- By David T on 07-14-19
By: David Crist
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Strife!
- Asia's Inevitable and (Un)Avoidable Descent into World War II
- By: John R. Huber
- Narrated by: Ty Lasky
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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History is often told through the lens of battles and treaties, but Strife in Asia! delves deeper—unraveling the relentless chain of events that pushed the region toward war. From the Opium Wars to the rise of Japanese militarism, this book examines the political, economic, and ideological forces that made conflict inevitable. More than just an analysis, Strife in Asia! blends rigorous scholarship with gripping narrative. Each chapter opens with a human perspective—vivid, personal accounts that capture the fear, resilience, and suffering of those swept up in history’s currents.
By: John R. Huber
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The Great Transformation
- China’s Road from Revolution to Reform
- By: Chen Jian, Odd Arne Westad
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian chronicle how an impoverished and terrorized China experienced radical political changes in the long 1970s and how ordinary people broke free from the beliefs that had shaped their lives during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. These changes, and the unprecedented and sustained economic growth that followed, transformed China and the world.
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Excellent history but the narration’s mispronunciation takes away from the story
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-25
By: Chen Jian, and others
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Revolutionary Iran
- A History of the Islamic Republic
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.
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Questionable Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 07-17-21
By: Michael Axworthy
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Target Tehran
- How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East
- By: Yonah Jeremy Bob, Ilan Evyatar
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Yonah Bob and Ilan Evyatar describe how Israel has used cyberwarfare, targeted assassinations, and sabotage of Iranian facilities to great effect, sometimes in cooperation with the United States. Even as it takes lethal action, Israel has managed to alter the politics of the Middle East, culminating in the Abraham Accords of 2020. Arab states such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel, and the holy grail of normalization with Saudi Arabia may yet be achieved.
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Couldn’t walk away !
- By ADAM on 01-10-24
By: Yonah Jeremy Bob, and others
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Hubris
- The Rise, Fall, and Future of Humanity
- By: Johannes Krause, Thomas Trappe, Sharon Howe -translator
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Leading archaeogeneticist Johannes Krause and journalist Thomas Trappe investigate what DNA can tell us about how we got where we are and what our future might be. They show how the first humans were defeated again and again and suffered fatal setbacks, and how Homo sapiens succeeded in conquering continents, overcoming natural borders, and bringing other species under its control. But the genetic blueprint that enabled us to get to the place where we are today had one flaw: it didn't factor in planetary boundaries.
By: Johannes Krause, and others
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The Looting Machine
- Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth
- By: Tom Burgis
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Africa is the world’s poorest continent and, arguably, its richest. In The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis takes listeners on a gripping journey into the world of the magnates and militiamen, the despots and jet-setting executives who gorge on Africa’s vast stocks of oil, gas, metals, and precious stones. Combining deep reporting with an action-packed narrative, Burgis presents a blistering investigation of the plunder of a continent and the terrible human toll.
By: Tom Burgis
the book teaches a lot of important information on Iran's political and religious background, I am better able to grasp the dynamics in Iranian policy and decision making. A fine history.
well detailed history of modern Iran
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There were times when the narrator said names too fast and it was hard for me to look up but that is a problem of my own limited hearing and the audiobook format.
Considering the current situation not sure it could be more prescient.
Appreciate focus on NatSec policy development.
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