Spotlighting an Author: Annie Tracy Samuel: The Unfinished History of the Iran-Iraq War

In this Spotlighting an Author event, Dr. Annie Tracy Samuel discussed the IRGC’s roles and power in contemporary Iran and demonstrates how the history of the Iran–Iraq War has an immense bearing on the Islamic Republic’s present and future. During the extensive Q&A section of the event, Tracy Samuel answered a series of questions with topics from the most important lessons learned by the IRGC to similarities between the acceptance of Security Council Resolution 598 and the acceptance of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

About Annie Tracy Samuel: Dr. Annie Tracy Samuel is an assistant professor of history and a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in history from Tel Aviv University and a B.A. in history and political science from Columbia University. She specializes in the modern history of Iran and the Middle East. She serves on the board of the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society, and began her term as president in January 2021.

About the book: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), founded after the Iranian revolution in 1979, is one of the most powerful and prominent but least understood organizations in Iran. In this book, Annie Tracy Samuel provides an innovative and compelling history of this organization, and by using the Iran-Iraq War as a focal point, analyzes the links between war and revolution. Examining how the Revolutionary Guards have recorded and assessed the history of the war in the massive volume of Persian-language publications produced by top members and units of the IRGC, Tracy Samuel presents an internal view of the IRGC. This not only enhances our comprehension of the IRGC’s roles and power in contemporary Iran, but it also demonstrates how the history of the Iran-Iraq War has immense bearing on the Islamic Republic’s present and future. In doing so, it reveals how analyzing Iran’s history provides the critical tools for understanding its actions today.