{"product_id":"stolen-revolution-betrayal-and-hope-in-modern-iran-9780241744017","title":"Stolen Revolution: Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA moving, riveting and immersive story of six Iranians who, together, lived the entire arc of modern Iranian history: the promise of the 1979 revolution, its betrayal by the Islamic mafia state and a people's undying spirit of resistance.    A moving, riveting and immersive story of six Iranians who, together, lived the entire arc of modern Iranian history: the promise of the 1979 revolution, its betrayal by the Islamic mafia state and a people's undying spirit of resistance.  Fuelled by Iranians' dreams of social justice and political freedom, the 1979 revolution swept aside the shah's ailing, repressive monarchy. But in its place the revolution's leader Ayatollah Khomeini and his acolytes built a system that served his narrow Islamic fundamentalist faction and worsened every failing and brutality that had existed under the shah. Award-winning journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati tell the entwined stories of six Iranians, providing a powerful new lens on Iran's recent history in all its bitter twists and stubborn hope:  . Mehdi Karroubi: a devotee of Khomeini, he rose to the heights of power on the wave of the revolution, before being cast out of its inner circle.  . Hila Sedighi: a young activist, who gave voice through her poetry to her peers' hopes during the reform years and ultimately immortalised their shattered dreams.  . Amir Moghadam: an ambitious government bureaucrat, who witnessed corruption and graft on a scale that impelled him to take enormous risks to expose the truth.  . Said Rahmani: a successful global tech entrepreneur who returned to Iran to spark a start-up boom in his native country, and encountered a ruthless security state that wanted his company for itself.  . Rozhin Yousefzadeh and Kosar Eftekhari: both born in the 1990s, they escaped their gendered destinies by leaving their hometowns for Tehran, where they joined a mass movement that confronted a ferocious state apparatus: the Woman Life Freedom protests. Each paid an enormous price.  Through vivid and original reporting, Stolen Revolution offers a compulsively readable new story of Iran, centring ordinary Iranians' lives, whilst providing a visceral understanding of how life is actually lived under a modern authoritarian state. This is a harrowing story of power, corruption and greed - and those brave individuals who fought back.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780241744017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 496\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 04 Jul 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 24.3(H)x16.4(L)x4.4(W)750\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 750\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eBozorgmehr Sharafedin (Author)  Bozorgmehr Sharafedin began his journalism career in Iran, rising to editor-in-chief of the most popular youth political magazine in the country. In 2008, he left Iran for the BBC in London. He moved to Reuters in 2015, where he shared a National Press Club Award. He joined the Persian-language news service Iran International in 2023.  Yeganeh Torbati (Author)  Yeganeh Torbati is an award-winning reporter at the New York Times with fifteen years of experience covering Iran, US national security, business and immigration. She has worked at the Washington Post, ProPublica, Reuters and the Baltimore Sun. She was part of a Reuters team that uncovered the financial empire controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2013. The series received numerous awards, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the Overseas Press Club Award and the European Press Prize. Torbati was born in Oklahoma to Iranian immigrants.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis account of the Islamic Republic and its discontents told via six contrasting lives should be required reading\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati’s powerful history of the Islamic republic is a badly needed corrective because it is at once \u003cb\u003ean engrossing story and a balanced, meticulously researched primer on modern Iran (the clearest I’ve ever read)\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003eit is dramatic, personal and often heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e -- Dina Nayeri * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA blistering takedown of the Islamic Republic\u003c\/b\u003e, revealing the structural rot on which it was built and the courage of those who resist it . . . \u003cb\u003eThe devastating sections on Kosar Eftekhari and Rozhin Yousefzadeh will move some readers to tears\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a genuinely remarkable achievement\u003c\/b\u003e -- Justin Marozzi * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTwo books I immensely enjoyed in recent months . . . I'd recommend \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eby the journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati, which tracks the lives of six Iranians, including one major political figure, to reveal how the Islamic regime lost legitimacy. \u003cb\u003eIt's a book about courage, revolt and, above all, disappointment\u003c\/b\u003e -- Roula Khalaf * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOutstanding . . . a brilliant and compelling tapestry of humanity and history using the stories of six Iranians, researched in 130 interviews\u003c\/b\u003e . . . The inside story of Iranian politics is little known and often viewed with rose-tinted blinkers by sympathetic Westerners. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution \u003c\/i\u003etells it clear-sightedly and grippingly\u003c\/b\u003e -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive inside story of how the ideals behind Iran's revolution were subverted and crushed - and of the brave Iranians who still keep those dreams alive\u003c\/b\u003e -- Catherine Belton, author of PUTIN'S PEOPLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA deeply reported and quietly devastating account of half a century of upheaval in the country\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e The result is one of the most perceptive books on modern Iran in years\u003c\/b\u003e . . . There are scenes of striking intimacy . . . If the first half of \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e traces the consolidation of power, the second turns to the persistence of resistance -- Reza Aslan * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA rare and riveting chronicle of a major political story of our time. \u003c\/b\u003ePowerful personal stories are woven together to provide new insight and understanding. \u003cb\u003eWell-researched, well-written and well worth reading\u003c\/b\u003e -- Lyse Doucet\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrilliant . . . We can't recommend it highly enough\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sam Freedman \u0026amp; Lawrence Freedman * Comment is Freed *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read for anyone seeking an honest appraisal of revolutionary Iran and the bloody twists and turns of its theocratic regime. \u003c\/b\u003eBy narrating Iran’s convulsive modern history through the lives of six Iranians in clear prose and engaging personal detail, authors \u003cb\u003eBozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati have turned a potentially complex story into one that is compulsively readable\u003c\/b\u003e, and they deserve high praise for this achievement. \u003cb\u003eI found \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution \u003c\/i\u003eunputdownable, and cannot recommend it highly enough\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jon Lee Anderson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRarely has a book been so timely, and so apposite. \u003c\/b\u003eBy chronicling the Iranian revolution through the lives of six Iranians – \u003cb\u003ein the tradition of John Hersey’s classic \u003ci\u003eHiroshima\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e – Sharafedin and Torbati tell the story of modern Iran in a compelling and accessible way. \u003cb\u003eEssential reading for anyone who wants to understand the protests that broke out in January 2026, and the Islamic Republic’s resistance to the subsequent attacks by the US and Israel\u003c\/b\u003e -- Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News and author of I BROUGHT THE WAR WITH ME\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb\u003c\/b\u003e * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA riveting insight into the reality and complexity of an often demonised and misunderstood place . . . superb . . . reads like a high-octane political drama\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003eWith a cast of characters to rival \u003ci\u003eWar and Peace\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, and shaped by a rollercoaster narrative of political manoeuvring and backstabbing, \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution \u003c\/i\u003eis \u003cb\u003ean impressive work of investigation, interviewing and analysis\u003c\/b\u003e -- Rosemary Goring * Herald *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis excellent, rigorous, sensitive book tells the tragic but often inspiring story of Iran over the last fifty years. It is a rare window into a rich and varied world of protest, ideology, hope and fear. Essential for anybody interested in the country and the Middle East\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jason Burke, author of THE REVOLUTIONISTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book would have been important to read at any time, but now it is essential reading . . . beautifully written and – in its portrayal of the lives of key Iranians betrayed by the revolution – extraordinarily powerful\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jack Straw, former British Foreign Secretary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe most timely book is \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eStolen Revolution \u003c\/b\u003e. . . \u003c\/i\u003eThe authors conclude of the natives who hoped Israeli strikes would bring down the Islamic Republic's rulers \"that any Iranian would welcome such an assault was stark evidence of how deeply the Islamic Republic had alienated most of its people\".\u003cb\u003e This powerful book explains how matters reached such a stage\u003c\/b\u003e -- Martin Chilton * Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a captivating read\u003c\/b\u003e, and illuminates the human motivations that drove the 1979 revolution and its fallout. \u003cb\u003eSharafedin and Torbati's intimate storytelling makes you feel like you have the rare privilege of really knowing the six Iranian protagonists – who will go on to surprise you in the decisions they take. Whether this is your first book on Iran or your tenth, it will show you something new\u003c\/b\u003e -- YUAN YANG, author of PRIVATE REVOLUTIONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eprofoundly affecting account of life in modern Iran\u003c\/b\u003e through the eyes and experiences of a group of remarkable – and remarkably brave – individuals. It is also a sobering examination of the brutal instruments of repression the regime employs to maintain power. \u003cb\u003eThis is one of the most incisive works on Iranian society in a generation\u003c\/b\u003e -- Scott Anderson, author of KING OF KINGS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a vital dissection of Iran’s Islamic Republic over the past fifty years\u003c\/b\u003e. Through the eyes of people at the heart of the country’s progressive resistance, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati reveal the deepest flaws of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime in Iran and the inspiring resilience of those fighting for its improvement. \u003cb\u003eWith the world’s gaze on Iran’s future, this compelling history is a must-read\u003c\/b\u003e -- Cara McGoogan, author of THE POISON LINE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA brilliant investigative history of modern Iran, a powerful story of ambition and survival amid the deepening coercion and repression of the Islamic regime.\u003c\/b\u003e With prodigious research and unforgettable characters, the authors reveal the truth about Iran’s tumultuous revolutionary epoch —from mullahs to start-ups — \u003cb\u003eand offer hope for a future beyond it\u003c\/b\u003e -- David E. Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy, a New York Times bestseller, and The Dead Hand, winner of the Pulitzer Prize\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRigorous and revelatory, a kaleidoscopic history of modern Iran \u003c\/b\u003ethat is gripping and suspenseful and endlessly interesting. Torbati and Sharafedin tell the vivid story of a group of idealists who have crashed up against the realities of a revolutionary project gone terribly awry.\u003cb\u003e A masterwork of reporting\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ethis book is a kind of skeleton key for understanding the present moment\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jonathan Blitzer, author of EVERYONE WHO IS GONE IS HERE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe best book to understand Iran today. Torbati and Sharafedin have written a masterful narrative that moves seamlessly between grand historical turning points and the intimate details of private lives . . . Beautifully written, perfectly timed, and impossible to put down, \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a kaleidoscopic portrait of modern Iran by two of its most clear-eyed observers\u003c\/b\u003e -- Edward Fishman,  bestselling author of CHOKEPOINTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is truly revelatory\u003c\/b\u003e. It is at once a searing exposé—showing how the Islamic Republic really works, and for whom—and a tragic tale of all that has been robbed, materially and morally, of Iranians who sought to make their country a better place. \u003cb\u003eIt is investigative and narrative journalism at their best\u003c\/b\u003e -- Laura Secor, author of CHILDREN OF PARADISE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnyone who cares about the future of Iran should read \u003ci\u003eStolen Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e Yeganeh Torbati and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin explain how the 1979 revolution was subverted by Iran's corrupt and arrogant leaders—\u003cb\u003eand how courageous Iranians continued to fight for a free and modern country\u003c\/b\u003e. The Iranian people's struggle, told here though more than 130 interviews, should inspire us all -- David Ignatius\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA consciousness-changing record of the oppression of extremism lived and resisted at the personal level . . . We are left with a portrait of a nation more nuanced, complicated, and promising than the world—and perhaps even its own leaders—have fully appreciated\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus Reviews *","brand":"Bozorgmehr Sharafedin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48997128601817,"sku":"9780241744017","price":49.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780241744017.jpg?v=1784734522","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/stolen-revolution-betrayal-and-hope-in-modern-iran-9780241744017","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}