The People Reloaded The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future by Nader Hashemi & Danny Postel, eds. (Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing, 2010. pbk. 462 pages)

Abstract

The People Reloaded ‒ an anthology of the multiplicity of voices, belonging
to various perspectives, fields, and geographical locations throughout
the world, and primarily and principally in the Iran and Iranian diasporas
‒ is edited by Nader Hashemi (of the University of Denver) and Danny
Postel (the editor of The Common Review). The book is a definitive selected
collection of fifty-three writings and political analyses written by diverse voices interested in and engaged with the struggle for democracy
in Iran. The People Reloaded is comprised of key documents, statements,
interviews, letters, and essays ‒ and it seeks to capture “an important moment
in Iran’s history (xxii).”
This book is a rich, consistently engaging anthology that makes an
important effort to provide “an intellectual and political roadmap,” which
helps the reader in understanding the tumultuous events that have rocked
the Islamic Republic since June 2009 ‒ a period when the struggle for
the democracy in Iran underwent a “momentous transformation (xi).” The
facts, analyses, shadings, and nuances that these essays provide allow the
reader to better understand whatever direction Iran can or may take in the
future. The editors contribute to the work the introduction and two essays;
the remaining essays are those of noted historians, political activists in
and out of Iran, and journalists. Among the historians are Ervand Abrahamian,
Hamid Dabashi, and Juan Cole; the activists include Ayatollah
Mohsen Kadivar, Shirin Ebadi (2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner), and Hossein
Bashiriyeh; and the journalists include Roger Cohen, Stephen Kinzer,
and Laura Secor. The combined effect is a history of the Green Movement,
which includes much of Iran’s revolutionary past and a vision of the future
of the Green Movement in its struggle for justice and a voice in the ancient
civilization of Iran ...