The Great Satan vs. the Mad Mullahs: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other - Softcover

Beeman, William O.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226041476 ISBN 13: 9780226041476

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2008

Synopsis

For more than twenty-five years, the United States and Iran have been diplomatically estranged, each characterizing the other not only as a political adversary, but also as devious, threatening, and essentially evil. According to William O. Beeman’s provocative book, The “Great Satan” vs. the “Mad Mullahs,” such demonization is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as both countries have embraced exactly the policies and rhetoric that would particularly threaten or insult the other. Drawing on his experience as a linguistic anthropologist, Beeman parses how political leaders have used historical references, religious associations, and the mythology of evil to inflame their own citizens against the foreign country, and proposes a way out of this dangerous debacle.

“William Beeman’s analysis of dissonant perceptions of Iran and the USA is compelling and important. . . . I am particularly grateful for this work.”—James Peacock, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“[Beeman] is more interested in informing the reader than in impressing his peers. The other strength of the book lies in the author’s knowledge of Iranian history and culture. . . . It challenges the reader and forces him to question stereotypes about Iran and Washington’s perspective on the country.”—Abbas William Samii, Middle East Journal

About this title

Book Description:

Exposes the hostile U.S.-Iranian relationship as the result of a pervasive yet unnecessary mutual demonization, full of vengeful myth mongering and retribution for past injuries, not the result of an actual mutual threat.

About the Author:

William O. Beeman is professor and chair of anthropology at the University of Minnesota. He has also worked as a consultant to the United States State Department and Department of Defense. He is the author of Iraq: State in Search of a Nation and Language, Status and Power in Iran.   

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0226041476
• ISBN 13: 9780226041476
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320