Book contents
- Heroes to Hostages
- The Global Middle East
- Heroes to Hostages
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Transliteration
- Introduction Heroes or Hostages
- Part I Uncertain Overtures (1796–1914)
- 1 Pluralist Persia
- 2 “The Portals of Persepolis”
- 3 A Martyr and Many Masters
- Part II Desultory Modernities (1914–1941)
- Part III Cataclysms (1941–1963)
- Part IV A Troubled Middle East (1960–1979)
- Part V The Schism (1978–1988)
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - “The Portals of Persepolis”
Persian Antiquity, American Curiosity, and Revolution
from Part I - Uncertain Overtures (1796–1914)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2023
- Heroes to Hostages
- The Global Middle East
- Heroes to Hostages
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Transliteration
- Introduction Heroes or Hostages
- Part I Uncertain Overtures (1796–1914)
- 1 Pluralist Persia
- 2 “The Portals of Persepolis”
- 3 A Martyr and Many Masters
- Part II Desultory Modernities (1914–1941)
- Part III Cataclysms (1941–1963)
- Part IV A Troubled Middle East (1960–1979)
- Part V The Schism (1978–1988)
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The literary and diplomatic overtures between America and Iran expanded throughout the nineteenth century. As American missionaries explored Iran, American writers and diplomats wrote about Persian literature and traveled to the country to assess its commercial potential. Persian Studies emerged as American scholars became involved in recovering Persian antiquity. For its part, Iran and the king, Nasser al-Din Shah, expressed captivation with the West and undertook glamorous trips to Europe. Other Iranians also started to write more about Western society, and specifically about America as a successful nation and empire. Finally, Persia was featured in American Orientalist adventures such as the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.
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- Heroes to HostagesAmerica and Iran, 1800–1988, pp. 37 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023