Iran's Revolutionary Guards are one of the most important forces in the Middle East today. As the appointed defender of Iran's revolution, the Guards have evolved into a pillar of the Islamic Republic and the spearhead of its influence. Their sway has spread across the Middle East, where the Guards have overseen loyalist support to Bashar al-Assad in Syria and been a staunch backer in Iraq's war against ISIS-bringing its own troops, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Shiite militias to the fight. Links to terrorism, human rights abuses, and the suppression of popular democracy have shrouded the Revolutionary Guards in controversy.
In spite of their prominence, the Guards remain poorly understood to outside observers. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar has written the first comprehensive history of the organization. Situating the rise of the Guards in the larger contexts of Shiite Islam, modern Iranian history, and international affairs, Ostovar takes a multifaceted approach in demystifying the organization and detailing its evolution since 1979. Politics, power, and religion collide in this story, wherein the Revolutionary Guards transform from a rag-tag militia established in the midst of revolutionary upheaval into a military and covert force with a global reach.
The Guards have been fundamental to the success of the Islamic revolution. The symbiotic relationship between them and Iran's clerical rulers underpins the regime's nearly unshakeable system of power. The Guards have used their privileged position at home to export Iran's revolution beyond its borders, establishing client armies in their image and extending Iran's strategic footprint in the process. Ostovar tenaciously documents the Guards' transformation into a power-player and explores why the group matters now more than ever to regional and global affairs. The book simultaneously serves as a history of modern Iran, and provides a crucial and engrossing entryway into the complex world of war, politics, and identity in the Middle East.
Industry Reviews
"Vanguard of the Imam offers seasoned students of Iran a more granular view of the early years of the revolution and the post-war period, as seen through the lens of the IRGC's rise. Readers who are new to the subject of Iran will benefit from a thorough introduction into the politics of the Islamic Republic, and they may also find useful the final chapters, which neatly synthesize many of the current events unfolding in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon
Vanguard of the Imam is a useful addition to the literature, and one that both graduate and undergraduate instructors of courses on Middle Eastern politics would benefit from adopting."--Nathan Gonzalez, Journal of
Church and State
2016 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title
"Vanguard of the Imam, shows how important leftist opposition elements were in the creation of the insurrectionary ideology that informs the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC) to this day."
-- Times Literary Supplement
"Ostovar provides a careful history of the organization and its domestic and foreign exploits."
-- Foreign Affairs
"Vanguard of the Imam is the most up-to-date account of the IRGC's rise. [It] aids in understanding the battles that rage today in the Middle East."
-- War on the Rocks
"Vanguard of the Imam is a very insightful book on the Revolutionary Guards. With the help of hitherto unused sources, Ostovar has thrown light on new dimensions of the Revolutionary Guards and the Islamic Iran. With unmatchable scholarship, Ostovar has highlighted the Revolutionary Guards' role in Islamic nation-building in post Islamic Revolutionary Iran. It is a must-read book to understand Islamic Iran."
-- The Washington Book Review
"The best book yet written on the Islamic Revolutionary Republican Guard (IRGC)."
-- Choice
"Ostovar's must-read book is the first study of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that deals not only with their military and security dimension but also with the social and cultural history of the organization. It is a brilliant and unique achievement."
-- Juan Cole, Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan
"When at home or abroad, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the tip of Iran's revolutionary spear. Ostovar offers us a detailed, nuanced, and definitive guide."
-- Daniel Byman, Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution
"This is a book that will appeal both to scholars and students of contemporary Iran, and
journalists and specialists, and to the literate wider public -- an excellent book that deserves to be widely read and pondered."
-- Michael Axworthy, author of Revolutionary Iran
