Pivot of the Universe : Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian...: English 1997

(For US customer $45) When he was assassinated in 1896, Nasir al-Din Shah had sat on the Peacock Throne for nearly half a century. A colorful, complex figure, he is frequently portrayed as capricious and indulgent. Yet he was in many ways an effective ruler who displayed remarkable resilience during his long reign in the face of dilemmas and vulnerabilities shared by most monarchs of the Islamic world in the 19th century. In this book, the first in English about Nasir al-Din Shah, Abbas Amanat gives us both a biography of the man and an analysis of the institution of monarchy in modern Iran. Amanat poses a fundamental question: how did monarchy, the centerpiece of an ancient political order, withstand and adjust to the challenges of modern times, both at home and abroad? Nasir al-Din Shah's life and career, his upbringing and personality, and his political conduct provide remarkable material for answering this question. By examining the way Nasir al-Din Shah was transformed from an insecure crown prince and later an erratic boy-king in the 1840s and 50s into a ruler with substantial control over his government and foreign policy in the 1860s and beyond. Amanat explores a patter