"The Persians" is a succinct narrative of Iranian history from the time of Cyrus the Great in 560BC to the present day. This book: traces events from the rise of the Persian empire, through competition with Rome and conquest by the Arabs, through to the re-establishment of a Persian state in the sixteenth century, and finally the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the establishment of the current Islamic Republic; uses the most recent scholarship to examine Iran's political, social and cultural history; focuses on ruler ship as a central theme in Iranian identity; and, also shows how land, language and literature relate to Iranian identity. Les mer