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Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies
Barbara Slavin
Iran, The U.S., And The Twisted Path To Confrontation
St. Martin's Griffin
January 2009
On Sale: January 6, 2009
272 pages ISBN: 0312384912 EAN: 9780312384913 Paperback
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Non-Fiction Political
In Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies, Barbara Slavin
untangles the love-hate relationship between Iran and the
United States that has brought the two countries to the
brink of war. Slavin reveals that relations between
Washington and Tehran have been riddled with contradictions
for decades and details missed opportunities for
reconciliation under both the Clinton and Bush
administrations, including diplomatic rebuffs to Iran in
Bush’s first term based on the mistaken belief that the U.S.
invasion of Iraq would weaken Iran's Islamic government. One of the few reporters to interview high-profile Iranian
officials, including Iran’s current and last two
presidents, Slavin describes all the key
constituencies in Iran society from the clerics, to the
Revolutionary Guards, to reformers and Iranian youth. She
unveils Iran and shows it to be a country that both adores
and fears the United States. Despite government propaganda
that portrays the U.S. as the "Great Satan," many Iranians
have come to idolize staples of American pop culture while
holding on to their own traditions. The United States, on the other hand, has demonized Iran as
a member of an “axis of evil” that supports terrorists and
represses its own people who, in the words of U.S.
officials, “deserve better.” As Iran moves toward becoming a nuclear power, Slavin
believes that the power brokers in Washington may be
suffering from the same lack of understanding and foresight
that led the U.S. into prolonged warfare in Iraq.
Distrustful of each other's intentions yet longing at some
level to reconcile, neither Tehran nor Washington knows how
this story will end. Anyone interested in understanding the
dynamics of this pivotal international relationship will
find Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies a crucial and
compelling read.
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