Ray Takeyh

 Author Event: Ray Takeyh
Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic
May 22, 2007

The Eisenhower Institute hosted an author event on May 22, 2007 featuring one of this country's noted experts on the Middle East and Iran, Ray Takeyh. Takeyh, the author of Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic, gave a short presentation on his book and the state of the confounding relationship between the United States and Iran. The Institute followed up Takeyh's appearance with an invitation-only roundtable luncheon discussion on May 24th. 

Takeyh, currently the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, stands as one of the world's leading voices of a small, select group of Iranian experts. At the Council, he concentrates his work on Iran, Islamist movements, and Middle Eastern politics. He has held positions at the National Defense University, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley. His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, and the International Herald Tribune. He has served numerous times as an expert on Iran in congressional hearings and academic panels. His work, Hidden Iran, examines the complexities of Iranian politics and its relationship with its regional counterparts and with the United States.

Having broken off all diplomatic relations with Iran nearly three decades ago, the United States has little first-hand experience with this complex and complicated country. Takeyh's book helps readers understand Iran, its history, its politics, and its people. 

"Ray Takeyh is one of the best of the new generation of Middle East scholars and anything he writes on the topic of Iran is automatically a must-read."
-Kenneth Pollack, author of The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America

"An important and timely insight into the complexities of contemporary Iran, which not only refutes the simplistic and war-mongering slogans about Iran of those who recently pushed America into the war with Iraq, but also points the way to a more constructive relationship."
-Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser