Ervand Abrahamian

Ervand Vahan Abrahamian was born in 1940 in Tehran to Armenian parents. He attended three grades at the Mehr School in Tehran and was later sent off to Rugby School (1954-59),{{cite web |title=Lunch with Ambassador Wisner (Tu 56-57) |url=https://web.rugbyschool.co.uk/american-friends-of-rugby/events/lunch-with-ambassador-wisner-tu-56-57/ |website=rugbyschool.co.uk |publisher=Rugby School |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220104111948/https://web.rugbyschool.co.uk/american-friends-of-rugby/events/lunch-with-ambassador-wisner-tu-56-57/ |archive-date=4 January 2022 |quote=New York Rugbeians [...] Historian and City University of New York Professor Ervand Abrahamian (M 54-59) ... |access-date=4 January 2022 |url-status=live }} a prestigious boarding school in England. He received his B.A. in modern history from St John's College, Oxford, in 1963. During this period, he studied with Keith Thomas and mainly focused on European history.

He later moved to New York City, where he studied at Columbia University and received his first M.A. in 1966. He received a second M.A. from Oxford in 1968. Abrahamian then earned a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1969. His thesis was titled "Social Bases of Iranian Politics: The Tudeh Party, 1941-53." He has stated that his "understanding of Iran [was] ... most shaped [by] the oil crisis of 1951-53 culminating in the coup."

Abrahamian was an activist and a member of the Confederation of Iranian Students — National Union (CISNU) that opposed the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1960s and 1970s. As of 1976, he was one of the vice chairpersons of the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran (CAIFI), a "minor front" of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).{{cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Lawrence P. |author-link1=Larry McDonald |title=Trotskyism and Terror: The Strategy of Revolution |date=1977 |publisher=ACU Education and Research Institute |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/TrotskyismAndTerrorTheStrategyOfRevolution/page/n18/mode/1up 35-36]}}

Abrahamian is a naturalized American citizen. He is known to his friends as "Jed".{{cite book |last1=Gleason |first1=Abbott |author-link1=Abbott Gleason |title=A Liberal Education |date=2010 |publisher=TidePool Press |isbn=9780975555743 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dly0RgUc0YcC&dq=Ervand+(Jed)+Abrahamian&pg=PA218 218]}}

Abrahamian has formerly taught at Princeton University, New York University, Columbia University, and Oxford University.{{Cite journal |last=Abrahamian |first=E. |date=1968 |title=The Crowd in Iranian Politics 1905-1953 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/650007 |journal=Past & Present |issue=41 |pages=184–210 |issn=0031-2746}} However, he has spent most of his career at the City University of New York (CUNY). He is currently Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center. His research interests include the history and politics of the Middle East, primarily Iran.

He regularly comments on Iran's politics and economy, foreign relations of Iran, including Iran–United States relations. Abrahamian is considered an authority on Iranian opposition movements,{{cite news |last1=MacFarquhar |first1=Neil |author-link1=Neil MacFarquhar |title=Iran's Latest Protests Are Seen as the Toughest to Stop |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/middleeast/17tehran.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 16, 2009 |quote=...noted Ervand Abrahamian, an expert on Iranian opposition movements at Baruch College.}} including the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).{{cite news |last1=Kingsley |first1=Patrick |title=Highly Secretive Iranian Rebels Are Holed Up in Albania. They Gave Us a Tour. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/16/world/europe/iran-mek-albania.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 16, 2020 |quote=...according to Professor Ervand Abrahamian, a historian of the group.}} He has been regarded as one of the leading historians of modern Iran.

He has appeared as a guest on BBC Persian,{{cite web |title=تهدید ایران به گرفتن انتقام خون سلیمانی - شصت دقیقه ۱۴ دی |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0MM2_LLtaU&t=457s |publisher=BBC Persian on YouTube |language=fa |date=January 5, 2020}} Charlie Rose,{{cite web |title=Ervand Abrahamian |url=http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/7175 |website=charlierose.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403220353/http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/7175 |archive-date=3 April 2013 |date=June 16, 2011}} Worldfocus,{{cite web |title=Martin Savidge interviews Ervand Abrahamian on Iran and sanctions |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wir5uvKkYY |publisher=worldfocusonline on YouTube |date=November 30, 2009}} Amanpour & Company,{{cite web |title=Historian Explains US and Iran's Long, Complicated History |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/historian-explains-us-and-irans-long-complicated-history/ |website=pbs.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229225026/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/historian-explains-us-and-irans-long-complicated-history/|archive-date=29 February 2020 |date=1 January 2020}} Democracy Now!,{{cite web |title=Iran expert: Military confrontation is "inevitable" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-PgWUazbDs |publisher=Democracy Now! on YouTube |date=June 21, 2019}} Lou Dobbs Tonight, and other series and channels.

In a preface to his 1989 book Radical Islam, Abrahamian describes himself as "a sceptic by intellectual training; a democratic socialist by political preference; and, as far as religious conviction is concerned, an agnostic on most days — on other days, an atheist."{{cite book |last1=Abrahamian |first1=Ervand |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |date=1989 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |page=ix |chapter=Acknowledgements |quote=I am an Armenian-Iranian by birth; a sceptic by intellectual training; a democratic socialist by political preference; and, as far as religious conviction is concerned, an agnostic on most days — on other days, an atheist. April 1988.}}Also cited in {{cite book |last1=Dabashi |first1=Hamid |author-link1=Hamid Dabashi |title=Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundatation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran |date=2006 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sTFdNNQP4ewC&dq=%22ervand+abrahamian&pg=PR48 xlviii] |chapter=Preface}} In 1983 he told The New York Times that he has an "independent Marxist point of view."{{cite news |last1=Shribman |first1=David |author-link1=David M. Shribman |title=THE MIDDLE EAST TURMOIL SPILLS INTO U.S. CLASSROOMS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/25/weekinreview/the-middle-east-turmoil-spills-into-us-classrooms.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 25, 1983}} Christoph Marcinkowski wrote that Abrahamian's publications "feature more or less the left-wing political perspective of their author – especially in terms of socio-political and socio-economic analysis."{{cite journal |last1=Marcinkowski |first1=Christoph |author-link1=:de:Christoph Marcinkowski |title=Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran |journal=Islam and Civilisational Renewal |date=January 2011 |volume=2 |pages=406–408 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/127ff50a3d6c96fa4a67c111ef3d8425/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1156339}} He has been influenced by Marxist historians Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm, E. P. Thompson and others. He has called Thompson a "towering figure for a number of reasons — not just for historians of Iran, but also for Marxist historians throughout the world." He is generally sympathetic towards the Tudeh Party. Werner has described Abrahamian as a "vivid chronicler of the history of the Iranian Left, defying any attempt to view twentieth-century Iran exclusively through an Islamicate lens."

In 2007, Abrahamian called the theory of the US government being behind the September 11 attacks "absurd." He compared it to claims of Iran supporting anti-US Sunni insurgents in Iraq, calling the latter "just not possible." Abrahamian opined that if the US conducts airstrikes on Iran and triggers a war, it would last 30 to 100 years.

In 1986, he objected that The New York Times obituary of Loy W. Henderson did not mention his role in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, which he described as "probably his most important contribution." He wrote to the Times: "Few ambassadors have so decisively changed the course of a country's history. What is more, he set a State Department precedent by permitting secret agents to use the embassy compound to carry out the coup. Your oversight would have amused George Orwell; it certainly would not have surprised him."{{cite news |last1=Abrahamian |first1=Ervand |title=Credit Where Due |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/11/opinion/l-credit-where-due-391686.html |work=The New York Times |date=11 April 1986}}

In 2006, he described Iran as a "third world power."{{cite news |last1=MacFarquhar |first1=Neil |author-link1=Neil MacFarquhar |title=How Iran's Leader Keeps the West Off Balance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/weekinreview/17MacFARQUHAR.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 17, 2006}} In 2017 he noted that the "gradual but consistent shift to the right in recent years naturally erodes this welfare state and thereby undermines the social basis of the regime." He has described the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) as a group that "played an important role in modern Iran".{{cite book |last1=Abrahamian |first1=Ervand |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |date=1989 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |page=ix |chapter=Acknowledgements |quote=Although the Mojahedin has played an important role in modern Iran, little has been written on its history.}}

Abrahamian has said that "heroes are to be avoided." He has described Donald Trump as "at heart a con man spouting out verbiage to sell a particular product." He called the first Trump presidency a "nightmare."

Abrahamian has authored or coauthored the following books:

• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=Iran Between Two Revolutions|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1982|isbn=9780691101347|series=Limited Paperback Editions, Princeton Studies on the Near East}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=9781850430773}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=The Iranian Revolution|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1989}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7YwDwAAQBAJ|title=Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic|publisher=University of California Press|year=1993|isbn=9780520085039}}

• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ucTdH9sh1O0C|title=Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|isbn=9780520922907}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Cumings|first1=Bruce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXsCOwAACAAJ|title=Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth about North Korea, Iran, and Syria|last2=Abrahamian|first2=Ervand|last3=Ma'Oz|first3=Moshe|publisher=The New Press|year=2004|isbn=9781595580382|location=New York, NY}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Barsamian|first1=David|title=Targeting Iran|last2=Chomsky|first2=Noam|last3=Abrahamian|first3=Ervand|last4=Mozaffari|first4=Nahid|publisher=City Lights Books|year=2007|isbn=9780872864580|series=Open Media Series, Politics, Culture and Society Series|location=San Francisco, California|author-link=David Barsamian|author-link2=Noam Chomsky}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=A History of Modern Iran|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0521821391}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations|publisher=The New Press|year=2013|isbn=9781595588265|location=New York, New York}}
• {{Cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|title=Oil Crisis in Iran: From Nationalism to Coup d' Etat|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2022|isbn=9781108837491|location=New York, New York}}

Abrahamian's best known and most cited{{cite web |title=Ervand Abrahamian |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Ervand+Abrahamian&btnG= |website=scholar.google.com |publisher=Google Scholar |access-date=28 February 2020}} book is Iran Between Two Revolutions (1982), published by Princeton University Press. It is an account of the history of Iran from the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–06 to the Islamic Revolution of 1978–79.

Initial reviews were largely positive.{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=John C. |title=Reviewed Work: Iran: Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=Fall 1982 |volume=61 |issue=1 |page=236 |quote=In many ways it is an impressive achievement, drawing on previously untapped Iranian sources and material from the British and American archives. |jstor=20041415}}{{cite journal |last1=Ferdows |first1=Adele K. |title=Reviewed Work: Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Studies Association Bulletin |date=July 1983 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=42–43 |quote= To sum up, this is a carefully developed book that well deserves a significant place in the literature on Iranian history and politics. It hardly needs a reviewer's recommendation because it will be recognized easily for the splendid contribution it is, and it will be utilized and quoted by many scholars to come.|jstor=23057451 |doi=10.1017/S0026318400012578 |s2cid=164930460 }}{{cite journal |last1=Binder |first1=Leonard |author-link1=Leonard Binder |title=Reviewed Work: Iran between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 1984 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=405–407 |quote=I believe that the author has done a remarkably good job and that his book will become the standard introduction to contemporary Iranian political history.|jstor=163048 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800028245 |s2cid=164088740}} Criticisms included disproportional focus on the Communist movement and the Tudeh Party, and reliance on British archives. Sepehr Zabih wrote that it is constrained by the ideological bias of neo-Marxist approach of E. P. Thompson. M. E. Yapp wrote: "with all its imperfections, Abrahamian's book is the most interesting and exciting book on the recent history of Iran which has appeared for many years." Zabih was more reserved: "this work is a significant addition to the literature on some aspects of the Iranian communist movement. The author is well versed in the selected periods of recent Iranian history. No one with sustained interest in Iranian politics, especially those of the left, could afford to ignore this volume." Gene R. Garthwaite wrote that the book made three significant contributions: "its class analysis will force all of us-Marxist and non-Marxist alike-to re-examine our ideas about Iran's twentieth-century history and will provide the basis for discussion for some time to come; it gives the best account of the development of the Tudeh party and its social, intellectual, and political bases; and it presents the most detailed account of the Pahlavi period (ca. 1921-78) and its political history."{{cite journal |last1=Garthwaite |first1=Gene R. |title=Reviewed Work: Iran between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=The American Historical Review |date=December 1983 |volume=88 |issue=5 |pages=1303–1304 |jstor=1904978 |doi=10.2307/1904978}} Mazzaoui described it as "the best and most balanced account of the social and political developments in contemporary Persian history."

In Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin (1989) Abrahamian investigated the origins and history of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). The book sets out to answer several questions about the group, particularly concerning "the links between its ideology and its social bases."{{cite book |last1=Abrahamian |first1=Ervand |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |date=1989 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |page=3|quote=What were the appeals of the Mojahedin and what groups in particular were towards its ranks? In short, what were the links between its ideology and its social bases?

}}{{cite journal |last1=Afshari |first1=Reza |author-link1=Reza Afshari |title=Reviewed Work: The Iranian Mojahedin by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Studies Association Bulletin |date=July 1990 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=62–63 |jstor=23060814 |doi=10.1017/S0026318400022628 |s2cid=165003039}} It was well received by reviewers.{{cite journal |last1=Farhang |first1=Mansour |title=Reviewed Work: Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Report |date=April 1990 |issue=163 |pages=45–46 |jstor=3012564 |doi=10.2307/3012564}}{{cite journal |last1=Bayat |first1=Mangol |title=Reviewed Work: The Iranian Mojahedin by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=The American Historical Review |date=April 1991 |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=573–574 |quote=Ervand Abrahamian's new book is a sober, and sobering, account of the history of one of the best organized and most experienced lay Islamic political movements active in the Middle East today. [...] This book is of great importance to all historians of modern Iran and modern Islamic political movements. |jstor=2163361 |doi=10.2307/2163361}} Eric Hooglund called it a "very important book" that provides "detailed, objective, and erudite analysis" of the MEK. He also argued that its most important contribution is the exposition of the party's ideology.{{cite journal |last1=Hooglund |first1=Eric |author-link1=Eric Hooglund |title=Reviewed Work: The Iranian Mojahedin by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Iranian Studies |date=1989 |volume=22 |issue=2/3 |pages=155–158 |doi=10.1017/S0021086200016066 |jstor=4310684 |s2cid=245660036}} Mazzaoui wrote: "There is very little to criticize in this masterfully written piece of current research. Dr. Abrahamian writes sympathetically and at times dramatically-but always as an accomplished scholar."

Abrahamian's 1993 book on Iran's first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini and his ideology, is entitled Khomeinism. The book consisted of five essays. He argued that Khomeinism is "best understood as a populist movement, not a religious resurgence." He described Khomeini's movement as a form of Third World populism.{{cite journal |last1=Melville |first1=Charles P. |author-link1=Charles P. Melville |title=Reviewed Works: Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic by ERVAND ABRAHAMIAN; Islam and the Post-Revolutionary State in Iran by HOMA OMID |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |date=July 1995 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=306–309 |doi=10.1093/jis/6.2.306 |jstor=26195391 }} Fred Halliday called it a "superb study of political ideology in general and of the ideological evolution of the founder of the Islamic Republic in particular." Baktiari had a mixed review. He noted that it is well written, but "far from well documented." However, he called it a "stimulating book that deserves wide readership."{{cite journal |last1=Baktiari |first1=Bahman |title=Reviewed Work: Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 1995 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=382–383 |jstor=176277 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800062346 |s2cid=162279019}} Fakhreddin Azimi described it as a "lucid and provocative book."

Abrahamian's 1999 book Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran covers political repressions against opposition movements both before and after the Islamic Revolution, ending with the mass executions of 1988. It reviews interrogation tactics and prison facilities used in 20th century Iran. It was well received by critics.{{cite journal |last1=Hajjar |first1=Lisa |title=Reviewed Work: Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Journal |date=Summer 2000 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=468–469 |quote=...an important contribution. With an encyclopedic account of abuses perpetrated over decades against those in custody... [...] This book is vital reading for anyone interested in the subjects it addresses.|jstor=4329514}}{{cite journal |last1=Rejali |first1=Darius |author-link1=Darius Rejali |title=Reviewed Work: Forced Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2000 |volume=33 |issue=1/2 |pages=269–272 |doi=10.1017/S0021086200002231 |jstor=4311371 |s2cid=245661481 }}{{cite journal |last1=Werner |first1=Christoph |title=Reviewed Work: Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |date=November 2000 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=239–240 |quote=Despite the above criticism in certain points, it is highly applaudable that such a book is now in our hands and that it came out at this particular time. [..] It enriches our knowledge on modern Iran with a new and disquieting perspective.|jstor=826111 }} Mahdi praised it as a significant and timely book.{{cite journal |last1=Mahdi |first1=Ali Akbar |title=Reviewed Work: Tortured Confessions: Prison and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 2000 |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=414–418 |jstor=259518|doi=10.1017/S0020743800002567 |s2cid=162676627 }}

A History of Modern Iran, published in 2008, was widely praised. The book narrates state building of modern Iran.{{cite journal |last1=Ghamari-Tabrizi |first1=Behrooz |title=Reviewed Work: A History of Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 2010 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=529–531 |jstor=40784845 |doi=10.1017/S002074381000070X |s2cid=163049617 }} John Limbert called it a "scholarly, readable, and engaging study of the last century of Iranian history."{{cite journal |last1=Limbert |first1=John |author-link1=John Limbert |title=Reviewed Work: A History of Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Journal |date=Winter 2009 |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=144–145 |jstor=25482609}} Philip S. Khoury described it as "the most intelligent and perceptive history of modern Iran available in the English language."{{cite journal |last1=Khoury |first1=Philip S. |author-link1=Philip S. Khoury |title=Reviewed Work: A Modern History of Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=The International History Review |date=March 2011 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=154–156 |jstor= 23033152|doi=10.1080/07075332.2011.572640 |s2cid=219643373}}

Abrahamian's 2013 book The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations was met with mixed to favorable reviews.{{cite journal |last1=Byrne |first1=Malcolm |title=Reviewed Work: The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=February 2014 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=198–200 |jstor=43303124|doi=10.1017/S0020743813001451 |s2cid=161794383}} David S. Painter opined that "Despite some problems, The Coup is a valuable corrective to previous work and an important contribution to Iranian history."{{cite journal |last1=Painter |first1=David S. |author-link1=David S. Painter |title=Reviewed Work: The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=The American Historical Review |date=December 2013 |volume=118 |issue=5 |pages=1494–1495 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/118/5/1494/17901 |jstor=23784600|doi=10.1093/ahr/118.5.1494|url-access=subscription }} Mark Gasiorowski was more critical. He argued that the book does not provide any "major new revelations or insights and is misleading in several ways."{{cite journal |last1=Gasiorowski |first1=Mark |author-link1=Mark Gasiorowski |title=Reviewed Work: The Coup: 1953, The CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle East Journal |date=Spring 2013 |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=315–317 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/505494/pdf |jstor=43698055}}

Abrahamian is widely recognized as a leading historian of modern Iran,{{cite news |last1=Balaghi |first1=Shiva |last2=Toensing |first2=Chris |title=Let Cooler Heads Prevail on Iran |url=https://merip.org/2006/06/let-cooler-heads-prevail-on-iran/ |work=merip.org |agency=Middle East Research and Information Project |date=15 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611074733/https://merip.org/2006/06/let-cooler-heads-prevail-on-iran/ |archive-date=11 June 2019 |quote=As Ervand Abrahamian, a leading historian of Iran, has noted...}}{{cite news |last1=Bajoghli |first1=Narges |title=The Hidden Sources of Iranian Strength |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/15/the-hidden-sources-of-iranian-strength/ |work=Foreign Policy |date=May 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105221818/https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/15/the-hidden-sources-of-iranian-strength/ |archive-date=5 January 2020 |quote=As a prominent historian of Iran, Ervand Abrahamian has argued...}}{{cite news |title=The Iranian Revolution at 40 |url=https://thepenngazette.com/the-iranian-revolution-at-40/ |work=The Pennsylvania Gazette |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721090944/http://thepenngazette.com/the-iranian-revolution-at-40/ |archive-date=July 21, 2019 |quote=...Ervand Abrahamian, who is perhaps the most influential contemporary historian of modern Iran, offered an analysis...}}{{cite news |last1=Saffari |first1=Siavash |title=Iran Protests: Changing Dynamics between the Islamic Republic and the Poor |url=http://diverseasia.snu.ac.kr/?p=324 |work=diverseasia.snu.ac.kr |publisher=Seoul National University Asia Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227140047/http://diverseasia.snu.ac.kr/?p=324 |archive-date=27 February 2020 |quote=Among others, Ervand Abrahamian, a leading historian of modern Iran, argues...}}{{cite book |last1=Alimagham |first1=Pouya |title=Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108475440 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pljPDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22ervand+abrahamian%22+%22historian&pg=PA27 27] |quote=...Ervand Abrahamian, the eminent historian of modern Iran, noted...}} and, by some, as the "preeminent historian of modern Iran."{{cite news |last1=Dabashi |first1=Hamid |author-link1=Hamid Dabashi |title=When the BBC did fake news |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/bbc-fake-news-181122134554312.html |agency=Al Jazeera |date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211063250/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/bbc-fake-news-181122134554312.html |archive-date=11 February 2020 |quote=...the preeminent historian of modern Iran, Professor Ervand Abrahamian.}}{{cite news |last1=Rad |first1=Assal |title=The Hostage Crisis Is Damaging U.S.-Iran Relations Today. Yet Too Few Understand It |url=https://www.newsweek.com/hostage-crisis-damaging-us-iran-relations-today-yet-too-few-understand-it-opinion-1469465 |work=Newsweek |date=4 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112064508/https://www.newsweek.com/hostage-crisis-damaging-us-iran-relations-today-yet-too-few-understand-it-opinion-1469465 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |quote=Preeminent historian of modern Iran Ervand Abrahamian...}}{{cite news |title=Trump's actions will only embolden Iran's right-wing populists, says historian |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-january-12-2020-1.5416826/trump-s-actions-will-only-embolden-iran-s-right-wing-populists-says-historian-1.5422039 |work=CBC.ca |agency=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=January 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211065531/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-january-12-2020-1.5416826/trump-s-actions-will-only-embolden-iran-s-right-wing-populists-says-historian-1.5422039 |archive-date=11 February 2020 |quote=Ervand Abrahamian is the pre-eminent historian of modern Iran...}} He has also been described as "one of the preeminent Iranian historians of his generation." Mansour Farhang noted that his books are "indispensable source of information, insight and analysis for scholars and general readers as well."{{cite news |last1=Farhang |first1=Mansour |title='Spies' Under the Persian Rug |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/spies-under-persian-rug/ |work=The Nation |date=June 8, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229224230/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/spies-under-persian-rug/|archive-date=29 February 2020}} In 1995 Fred Halliday opined in Iranian Studies that Ervand Abrahamian "has already established himself as one of the finest writers on twentieth-century Iran." Eric Hooglund wrote in 2000 that Abrahamian's books have "established his reputation as the leading scholar of Iran's twentieth-century social history."{{cite journal |last1=Hooglund |first1=Eric |author-link1=Eric Hooglund |title=Reviewed Work: Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |date=September 2000 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=388–391 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jis/article-abstract/11/3/388/660682?redirectedFrom=fulltext%20|jstor=26198210|doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.388 |url-access=subscription }} Reza Afshari wrote in 2002 that since the publication of the seminal Iran Between Two Revolutions (1982), Abrahamian has "become one of the most influential historians of modern Iran."{{cite journal |last1=Afshari |first1=Reza |author-link1=Reza Afshari |title=Reviewed Work: Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Human Rights Quarterly |date=February 2002 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=290–297 |jstor=20069598 |doi=10.1353/hrq.2002.0001 |s2cid=145509961 }}

He was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010.{{cite news |title=Baruch College Historian Ervand Abrahamian Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/news/abrahamian_amacad.htm |work=baruch.cuny.edu |agency=Baruch College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227140807/https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/news/abrahamian_amacad.htm |archive-date=27 February 2020}}{{cite news |title=Seventeen faculty honored |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/04/aaas/ |work=The Harvard Gazette |publisher=Harvard University |date=April 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227140940/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/04/aaas/ |archive-date=27 February 2020}} He is a member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Historical Association.

In 1967, Abrahamian was engaged to Helen Mary Harbison, the daughter of late historian E. Harris Harbison.{{cite news |title=Miss Harbison Engaged To Ervand Abrahamian |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/01/27/archives/miss-harbison-engaged-to-ervand-abrahamian.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 27, 1967}}

As of 2019, he is married to Mary Nolan, Professor Emerita of History at New York University (NYU).{{cite web |title=PathMakers to Peace 2019 |url=https://brooklynpeace.org/pathmakers-to-peace-2019-gala/ |website=brooklynpeace.org |publisher=Brooklyn For Peace |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220104111823/https://brooklynpeace.org/pathmakers-to-peace-2019-gala/ |archive-date=4 January 2022 |quote=Mary Nolan and Ervand Abrahamian |access-date=4 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Mary Nolan |url=https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/mary-nolan.html |website=as.nyu.edu |publisher=NYU Arts & Science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418181243/https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/mary-nolan.html |archive-date=18 April 2021}} He has two children, Emma and Rafi.Abrahamian, Ervand (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations, [https://books.google.com/books?id=l05NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR5 dedication page]

;Academic articles

• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/650007 The Crowd in Iranian Politics 1905–1953]." Past & Present, no. 41 (1968): pages 184–210.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4310043 The Crowd in the Persian Revolution]." Iranian Studies 2, no. 4 (1969): pages 128–50.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/162649 Communism and Communalism in Iran: The Tudah and the Firqah-I Dimukrat]." International Journal of Middle East Studies 1, no. 4 (1970): pages 291–316.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282491 Kasravi: The Integrative Nationalist of Iran]." Middle Eastern Studies 9, no. 3 (1973): pages 271–95.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/162341 Oriental Despotism: The Case of Qajar Iran]." International Journal of Middle East Studies 5, no. 1 (1974): pages 3-31.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40401876 European Feudalism and Middle Eastern Despotisms]." Science & Society 39, no. 2 (1975): pages 129–56.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011600 The Political Crisis Intensifies]." MERIP Reports, no. 71 (1978): 3–6.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282680 Factionalism in Iran: Political Groups in the 14th Parliament (1944-46)]." Middle Eastern Studies 14, no. 1 (1978): pages 22–55.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4310303 The Nonrevolutionary Peasantry of Modern Iran]." Iranian Studies 11, no. 1/4 (1978): pages 259–304.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/162146 The Causes of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran]." International Journal of Middle East Studies 10, no. 3 (1979): pages 381–414.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3012310 Iran in Revolution: The Opposition Forces]." MERIP Reports, no. 75/76 (1979): pages 3–8.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011417 Structural Causes of the Iranian Revolution]." MERIP Reports, no. 87 (1980): pages 21-26
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3012295 The Guerrilla Movement in Iran, 1963–1977]." MERIP Reports, no. 86 (1980): pages 3-15.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3010795 'Ali Shari'ati: Ideologue of the Iranian Revolution]." MERIP Reports, no. 102 (1982): pages 24–28.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011073 Ahmad Ashraf: Bazaar and Mosque in Iran's Revolution]." MERIP Reports, no. 113 (1983): pages 16–18.
• "[https://newleftreview.org/issues/I186/articles/ervand-abrahamian-khomeini-fundamentalist-or-populist Khomeini: fundamentalist or populist?] New Left Review, 1991
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40403895 The 1953 Coup in Iran]." Science & Society 65, no. 2 (2001): pages 182-215.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3993384 The US Media, Huntington and September 11]." Third World Quarterly 24, no. 3 (2003): pages 529-44.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/27735276 Why the Islamic Republic Has Survived]." Middle East Report, no. 250 (2009): pages 10-16. doi:10.2307/27735276.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/43298741 Voice of the Discontented]." History Workshop Journal, no. 76 (2013): pages 256-58.

;Notes

{{notelist}}

;Citations

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web |title=Ervand (Jed) Abrahamian |url=https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/pressroom/sme/ervandabrahamian.htm |website=baruch.cuny.edu |publisher=Baruch College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227144247/https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/pressroom/sme/ervandabrahamian.htm |archive-date=27 February 2020}}

{{cite web |title=Ervand Abrahamian: Biography |url=https://www.yalebooks.co.uk/author_display.asp?SF1=sort_name&ST1=ABRAHAMIANERVAND |website=yalebooks.co.uk |publisher=Yale University Press London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227143837/https://www.yalebooks.co.uk/author_display.asp?SF1=sort_name&ST1=ABRAHAMIANERVAND |archive-date=27 February 2020}}

{{cite web |title=Ervand Abrahamian |url=https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/History/Faculty-Bios/Ervand-Abrahamian |website=gc.cuny.edu |publisher=CUNY Graduate Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227144849/https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/History/Faculty-Bios/Ervand-Abrahamian |archive-date=27 February 2020}}

{{cite news |last1=Sadeghi-Boroujerdi |first1=Eskandar |title=Iran's Past and Present: An Interview with Ervand Abrahamian |url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/04/iran-left-tudeh-khomeini-nationalization-orientalism-oil-imperialism |work=Jacobin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227152646/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/04/iran-left-tudeh-khomeini-nationalization-orientalism-oil-imperialism |archive-date=27 February 2020|date=20 April 2017}}

{{cite web |title=Slope Survey: Ervand Abrahamian |url=https://www.psreader.com/slope-survey-ervand-abrahamian/ |website=psreader.com |publisher=Park Slope Reader |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227151846/https://www.psreader.com/slope-survey-ervand-abrahamian/ |archive-date=27 February 2020 |date=November 20, 2019}}

{{cite journal |last1=Beach |first1=Walter E. |title=Doctoral Dissertations in Political Science in Universities of the United States |journal=PS – Political Science & Politics |date=Summer 1970 |volume=3 |issue=03 |page=509 |publisher=American Political Science Association|jstor=418049 |doi=10.1017/S1049096500029450 |s2cid=154500745}}

{{cite news |last1=Krastev |first1=Nikola |title=Iran: U.S. Experts See Promise Amid Troubling Trends In Relations |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1105040.html |agency=RFE/RL |date=November 18, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129203229/https://www.rferl.org/a/1105040.html |archive-date=29 January 2020 |quote=Ervand Abrahamian, a U.S. citizen born in Iran, is professor...}}

{{citation|first=Cyrus|last=Schayegh|title="Seeing Like a State": An Essay on the Historiography of Modern Iran|jstor=40389584|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=42|number=1|date=February 2010|doi=10.1017/S0020743809990523|page=47|s2cid=162461497}}

{{citation|first=Sepehr|last=Zabih|title=Reviewed Work: Iran between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian|jstor=4310428|journal=Iranian Studies |volume=17|number=1|date=Winter 1984|pages=93–97|doi=10.1080/00210868408701624}}

{{cite journal |last1=Yapp |first1=M. E. |author-link1=M. E. Yapp |title=Reviewed Work: Iran between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |date=January 1984 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=120–123 |jstor=4282988}}

{{cite journal |last1=Halliday |first1=Fred |author-link1=Fred Halliday |title=Reviewed Work: Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Iranian Studies |date=1995 |volume=28 |issue=3/4 |pages=255–258 |doi=10.1017/S0021086200009270 |jstor=4310953 |s2cid=245656769}}

{{cite journal |last1=Azimi |first1=Fakhreddin |author-link1=Fakhreddin Azimi |title=Reviewed Work: Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=The American Historical Review |date=April 1995 |volume=100 |issue=2 |page=561 |jstor=2169122 |doi=10.2307/2169122}}

{{cite journal |last1=Mazzaoui |first1=Michel M. |title=Reviewed Work: Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin by Ervand Abrahamian |journal=Die Welt des Islams |date=1991 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=93–95 |jstor=1570648 |doi=10.2307/1570648}}

{{cite news |title=Lou Dobbs Tonight: General George Casey Grilled; Showdown Over Iraq; Intelligence Battle |type=Transcript |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/01/ldt.01.html |url-status=live |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309103410/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/01/ldt.01.html |archive-date=9 March 2021 |date=February 1, 2007}}

}}

• [http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/wsas/departments/history/faculty/abrahamian.html CUNY Distinguished Professor Ervand Abrahamian]
• {{C-SPAN|1023704}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahamian, Ervand}}

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