Both revolutionary and reactionary, the Islamic Republic of Iran has long been a conundrum for Western observers. A theocracy that aspires to a popular mandate; an anti-colonial state with imperial pretensions of its own: modern Iran is in many ways a reflection of its struggle to reconcile its traditions with the challenges of modernity. In this incisive book, globally renowned scholar of Iran Ali Ansari takes readers on a journey through the country's turbulent history. Beginning with Iran's fall from grace as a Great Power in the late 19th century, he explores its repeated attempts to modernise in a series of revolutionary movements from the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the civil unrest that is breaking out today. From staunch ally to implacable foe, this book reveals how the experience of history and Iran's encounter with 'modernity' have come to define it - and set it on an authoritarian path in confrontation with the West and, often, its own people.