Abbas Milani’s mission to preserve Iranian history
Abbas Milani’s mission to preserve Iranian history
The Stanford Iranian Studies director has spent two decades transforming the program he founded into a global hub for the study of modern Iran.
Abbas Milani has vivid memories of what it was like in Tehran the day before the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
At the time, he was a young assistant professor at Tehran University where he taught political science and law. He recalls the anticipation in Tehran as Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah, was overthrown, and the country’s new supreme leader, the Islamic nationalist Ayatollah Khomeini, rose to power.
But Milani was hesitant, worried about what might happen to a country with a deep, rich culture that he cared about passionately.
“I knew disaster was coming,” said Milani.
Read the full story in the Stanford Report.