CivilSociety Resource / Reference Library
Entrepreneurship, personal development, life coaching, return migration, research on inter-communal stress, and the Middle East

Listed by author, with links to Amazon.com for more information (when possible)
See also: The WWW Virtual Library on Migration and Ethnic Relations

2. Iran


Alavi, Nasrin. We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs
A history of thousands of Persian blogs, from all ways of life and motivation, this gives an overview of how Iranian culture and politics are influenced by blogging.

Amirahmadi, Hooshang and Entessar, Ander. Iran and the Arab World
This is an interesting portrayal of relations between the ancient cultures of Persians and Arabs.

Banuazizi, Ali. Social Stratification in the Middle East and North Africa: A Bibliographic Survey

Banuazizi, Ali and Weiner, Myron. The State, Religion, and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan

Boroujerdi, Mehrzad. Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism
What would Iranians think about themselves if they could remove what they think about the West, and what they think the West thinks about them? Very interesting approach, and useful to get into a non-Media viewpoint.

Browne, Edward Granville. A Literary History of Persia
Two thousand pages of poetry and prose in four volumes. The standard reference book on the thinking of the past that defined the mind and heart of Persia.

Donaldson, Dwight. Shi'Ite Islam: A History of Islam in Iran and Irak

Foltz, Richard C. Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: how Iran shaped the World's Religions
Easy-to-read commentary on the influence of ancient Persian social and religious systems on other major world religions. He stops short of showing the impact of Arab culture onto the Persian ethics and values. That would be a useful next book.

Foroughi E, Misajon R, Cummins RA. "The relationships between migration, social support, and social integration on quality of life"
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE, 18, (3): 156-167, 2001

Gheissari, Ali. Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
Describes Iranian academics and intelligentsia from 1905 to the early 1980s.

Gheissari, Ali and Nasr, Vali. Iran's Democracy Debate: an article _Middle East Policy_, Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Page: 94(13)
Downloadable article on the interpretations and dreams of democracy in the Iran context, 6/2004.

Holzmann, John, ed. Church of the East (Edited and Condensed Version of Nestorian Missionary Enterprise. Rev. John Steward)
One of the few references on the pre-Islamic Christian presence in Iran.

Kamrava, Mehran. "The Civil Society Discourse in Iran". _British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies_ (2001), 28(2), 165–185.

Loveday, Helen. Iran: Historic and Cultural Persia

MacKey, Sandra. The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation

Metz, Helen Chapin. Iran: A Country Study

Milani, Abbas. Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran
Ancient traditions supported modern concepts of democracy, freedom of speech, and equality of men and women, but seem to have been lost in the fixations with religion and western cultures.

Namazi, Baquer. "Civil Society Action for Good Association Law: The Case of Iran". _MDF3_, Cairo, Egypt, March 2000.
Addresses legal constraints to greater contribution of NGOs to development in Iran.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein and Razavi, Mehdi Amin. Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia
Philosophy in this book is the integration of the rational and mystical processes.

Povey, Elaheh Rostami. "Trade unions and women’s NGOs: diverse civil society organisations in Iran". _Development in Practice_, Volume 14, Numbers 1 & 2, February 2004.

Rubin, Barry. Paved With Good Intentions: The American Experience and Iran

Tabataba'i, 'Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn, (translated. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein). Shi'Ite Islam
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977. This book seems out of print, but is a valuable contribution to the social and political roots of Shi'ite Islam.