|
Home
Art & Architecture
Biography
Fiction/Novel
General
Geography
History
Language
Law
Literature
Mythology
Non-Fiction
Performing Arts
Philosophy
Poetry
Reference
Religion
Social Sciences
| |
Administrative and Social History of the Qajar
Period
Abdollah Mostofi
Translated from the Persian by Nayer Mostofi-Glenn
These three volumes are a translation from Persian into English of a major work of the
social, cultural, economic, administrative, political, and diplomatic history of Iran
during the Qajar period. The Persian edition was first published in 1945. A revised
edition, prepared by the author before his death, was published posthumously in 1965.
Scholars in the field of Iranian studies consider this work to be essential for students
of the Qajar period. In addition to covering major events during this era, the work
contains a wealth of information on the author's contemporaries, vanishing social customs,
religious rituals, everyday life, the interrelationship between secular and religious
authorities, and Iran's place in regional an international affairs.
Specifications:
1997
Volume I: xii+337pp., illus.
Volume II: 419pp., illus.
Volume III: 570pp., index.
ISBN:1-56859-041-5 (cloth): $89.00
Book Review: 
Excerpt from a review by
Hafez Farmayan
University of Texas at Austin
Source: The Middle East Journal Vol. 53, No. 2, Spring 1999
This delightfully readable book has been one of the most popular items on the reading list
of well-educated Iranians for over half a century. Now, thanks to the labors of the
author's daughter and the efforts of an enterprising publisher, an English translation of
this work has become available for readers who are not proficient in the Persian language.
Abdollah Mastiff, the youngest of eight children, was born in 1876 to a distinguished
Persian family of bureaucrats. In 1942 he set out to tell the story of his life and that
of the lives of his ancestors. In the preface to his book he states: "The story of my
life does not contain anything extraordinary. The purpose of this narrative is to give a
picture of the social life of the period and especially to clarify the administrative
procedures of the government during the past sixty or seventy years of my life" (Vol.
I, p. xix). This enormous three-volume work, which is 1,824 pages in the original Persian,
is basically a patchwork of memories that constitute a chronological narrative. It begins
with the first Qajar ruler, who hired the author's grandfather as a clerk in 1779. It ends
with an account of the last king of the Qajar Dynasty, who was deposed in 1925. The first
Persian-language volume was published in 1942, and the third appeared in 1946.
Throughout the text, the author ably ties the story of his own family with those of the
ruling monarchs of the Qajar Dynasty. This approach allows him to deal with the political,
as well as the administrative and social, aspects of Persian life. A great storyteller,
the author vivaciously weaves into his narrative many pleasing tales from Persian lore
with recent events of history. In simple direct prose, he gives fascinating descriptions
of everyday life in 19th- and early 20th-century Iran. Also included are highly
informative, often greatly interacting, references to such diverse things as: the
coronation of Qajar monarchs, weddings amongst the peasants, Persian food, ethnic jokes,
relations between families, women's activities, religious ceremonies, education of the
elite, public finance, medical practices, and agrarian and rural life. Through these and
many other subjects the author treats the central concept of his book-die ways in which
politics and administration were conducted in the Persian Empire. The scope of this review
does not permit a detailed description of the contents of this lengthy enterprise. In
general, the thing to remember is that the author is not a historian and that, despite its
title, the book is not a history in the conventional form. "I have repeatedly
mentioned in my writings that I do not claim to be a historian. I have deliberately
refused to write history in the absolute sense of the word" (Vol. III, p. xv). What
the author offers in each of these volumes is a mass of information, unstructured and
undocumented, but welcomed and accepted as accurate by readers who themselves had lived
through the times about which Mastiff wrote so well.
The major part of volume one describes the political and social lives of Iranians during
the rule of NASA al-Din Shah (I 848 -96). Among the many issues presented, the following
stand out: the Shah's journeys to Europe; the traditional system of Qajar bureaucracy;
NASA al-Din's administrative reforms; the Shah's relationships to his ministers; and,
finally, NASA al-Din Shah's private life. The latter subject is most entertaining and
extremely original.
The second volume of Mostofi's memoirs covers the years 1896 to 1919. In this volume, and
in the one that follows, Mastiff shares his own observations and personal experiences. In
1901, he graduated from the newly established School of Political Science in Tehran. Two
years later, at the age of 27, he entered into the service of the government; but, unlike
his ancestors who were in financial administration, he accepted a job in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Mostofi's first assignment was to work as secretary in the Iranian
Embassy in St. Petersburg.
| |
Administrative and Social History
Armenians and Russia
Armenian Baghash/Bitlis & Taron/Mush
Armenian Karin/Erzerum
Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert
Armenian Van/Vaspurakan
Aura of Kings
Az Orshalim ta Orshalim
Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement
Chronicle of Abraham of Crete
Chronicle of Deacon Zak'aria
Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran
Concise History of the Armenian People
Diary of His Majesty the Shah
Education, Religion and...
Essays on the Origins of Kurdish Nationalism
First Dutch-Persian
Heritage of Persia
History of Armenian People I
History of the Armenian People, volume II
History of Qarabagh
History of Safarids
History of the Wars
Iran and Beyond
Iranian Student Opposition
Iranians in Achaemenid Babylonia
Khanate Erevan
Kurdish Question and Turkish-Iranian
Nasir-i Khusraw's Book of Travels
Padyavand, Volume I
Padyavand, Volume II
Persian Gulf
Qajar Iran
Qajar Iran and the Rise of Reza Khan
Religious Response to Social Change
Russia and the Armenians of Transcaucasia
Safavid Government Institutions
Sasanian Coinage
Scholars and Humanists
Sharafnama: History of the Kurish Nation
Spirit of Iran
Spirit of Wisdom
Society and Culture in Qajar Iran
Spirit of Wisdom
Structure of Central
Traditional Crafts in Qajar Iran
Turkey's Relations with Iran
Turkey-Iran Relations
|
