SHIREEN MAHDAVI, For God, Mammon, and Country (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999). Pp. 304.

Abstract

The social and economic history of the Qajar period has not received much attention from Iranian or Western scholars. The present book has partly filled this gap by focusing on the biography of a leading Iranian merchant and entrepreneur, Haj Muhammad Hasan Amin al-Zarb. It complements the few existing studies by Issawi (1971), Ashraf (1980), and Natiq (1992) on the economic history of 19th-century Iran. The author shows that the expansion of foreign trade in Iran benefited many native merchants, who successfully used their entrepreneurial skills, experience of the internal market conditions, and family networks to gain an important social and economic place during the 19th century. The Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah encouraged and supported native merchants and provided them with important privileges and concessions. Many leading Iranian merchants, such as Amin al-Zarb, engaged in regional and international trade, set up family firms, and performed important banking functions for the state. Further, they used their capital to invest in manufacturing, mining, communication networks, and education. In the absence of an economic and political infrastructure and state support, their achievements were of limited success. Nevertheless, they left an important legacy of social and political engagement that continued to shape the course of Iranian history in the 20th century.