Iran is again in the headlines. Under attack, but still mysterious – it continues to be misrepresented, misunderstood, and regarded in the West as a pariah and a threat. But is it?

In this her 20th and newest book, The Great Powers, and Iran’s Social and Political Evolution, scholar and author Shireen T. Hunter delves into the nuances of Iran’s past and present, offering a deeply personal analysis – part autobiography, part history – of how the country of her birth became the nation it is today, how it was torn by great power machinations, and how the currents of international politics swept through society and affected the lives of ordinary people in Iran. Hunter sets out to chronicle her own journey from Iran to the US and what that has meant, but in the process she reveals a picture of Iran buffeted by great power politics that both demystifies and clarifies why it is the complex, misunderstood and modern state it has become.