The Iranian revolution of 1979 not only had an impact on regional and international affairs, but was made possible by the world and time in which it unfolded. This multi-disciplinary volume presents this revolution within its transnational and global contexts. Moving deftly from the personal to the global and from the provincial to the national, it draws attention to the multiplicity of spaces of the revolution such as streets, schools, prisons, personal lives, and histories such as the Cold War and Global 1960s and 70s. With a broad range of approaches, Global 1979 conceives of the Iranian Revolution not as exceptional or anachronistic, but as an uprising constituted by multiple, interwoven geographies and histories, which disrupt static and bounded notions of the local, national, regional, and global.

‘Serious scholarship perceives revolution as a fundamentally international or ‘inter-social’ process. Yet rarely are revolutions narrated as such. This important collection brings together valuable studies that uncover the overlooked global dimension of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Empirically rich and conceptually insightful, Global 1979 offers a perspective that presents revolution as a complex interplay of transnational effects and local experiences of perceived and real injustice.’

Asef Bayat - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

‘Highly original, theoretically sophisticated and meticulously researched, the contributions collected here represent a major breakthrough in scholarly efforts to understand the enigma of the 1979 revolution in Iran.’

Stephanie Cronin - University of Oxford

‘Transcending scholars’ focus on causes and outcomes of 1979, this volume simultaneously de-exceptionalizes the revolution and illuminates its specifically Iranian mix of global backgrounds, relationships, and imaginations. Wonderful chapters covering a boy from a small town, the Fedai’s Iranization of Brazilian insurgency, Takhti’s 1968 funeral, and the IRGC’s regional guerilla dimension will inspire Iranian and global historians alike.’

Cyrus Schayegh - Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies