Abbas Amanat, William Graham Sumner Professor Emeritus of History at Yale, poured decades of research into Iran: A Modern History, which charts five centuries of Iranian history and its encounters with the neighboring lands and the Western world. Now, the book is newly available with Chinese translation. On July 27, Abbas Amanat will be joined by Kaiyun Ji, one of the Chinese translators of the book, for a discussion on Professor Amanat's landmark book.
William Graham Sumner Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University
Abbas Amanat is William Graham Sumner Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University. He received his B.A. from Tehran University in 1971 and his Doctorate of Philosophy from the School of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, in 1981. He taught at Yale University between 1983 and 2021. He has written about the early modern and modern history of Iran, the Middle East, the Muslim world, and the Persianate world. His book publications include Iran: A Modern History; Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi’ism; Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896; and Resurrection and Renewal: the Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850.
Amanat has served as the director of the Ghasem Ghani Project at Yale University Library, as the Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies at Yale University, and as the Director of the Yale Program in Iranian Studies at the Yale MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
Director of The Center for Iranian Studies at Southwest University of China
Kaiyun Ji is currently Professor of World History and Director of The Center for Iranian Studies at Southwest University of China. He received his B.A. from Shaanxi Normal University, his M.A. in History of the Middle East from Southwest University of China, and PhD in History from Northwest University of China. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Tehran from August 2004 to June 2005, and a senior visiting scholar at the University of Illinois from August 2009 to June 2010. He is the author of five books, including General History of Middle Eastern Countries - Iran Volume, History of Iran in the Twentieth Century, and Studies on Iran-US Relations.
