Acknowledgments
In doing the research and writing for this book, I have received advice
from many experts to whom I am very grateful. Foremost among
these people is my dissertation advisor, Firuz Kazemzadeh. A number
of others have also been very generous in sharing their time and wis-
dom. Among these are Gavin Hambly, Amin Banani, Hafez Farmayan,
Malcolm Yapp, Richard Tapper, John Perry, Fereydoun Adamiyat,
Alexander Morton, Fred Donner, Geoffrey Wheeler, and Anne Sheehy.
William Wood provided much valuable editorial advice and encourage-
ment. Elizabeth Branch, Florence Thomas, and Gay Walker all
played a vital role at various stages in the preparation of the manu-
script. Through the generous assistance of a Fulbright-Hays fellowship,
I was able to spend a year doing research in the United Kingdom,
Iran, and France.