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Stolen Revolution

Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran
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Stolen Revolution

By: Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Yeganeh Torbati
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Stolen Revolution follows the lives of six Iranians who, together, lived the entire arc of modern Iranian history: the promise of the 1979 revolution, its betrayal by forces of autocracy and a people’s undying spirit of resistance.

Fuelled by Iranians’ dreams of social justice and political freedom, the 1979 revolution swept aside the shah’s ailing, repressive monarchy. But the revolution’s leader Ayatollah Khomeini and his acolytes built a system in its place that served his narrow Islamic fundamentalist faction, and worsened every failing and brutality that had existed under the shah. Award-winning journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati tell the entwined stories of six Iranians, providing a powerful new lens on Iran’s recent history in all its bitter twists and stubborn hope:

• Mehdi Karroubi: a devotee of Khomeini, he rose to the heights of power on the wave of the revolution, before being cast out of its inner circle.

• Hila Sedighi: a young activist, who gave voice through her poetry to her peers’ hopes during the reform years and ultimately immortalised their shattered dreams.

• Said Rahmani: a successful global tech entrepreneur who returned to Iran to spark a start-up boom in his native country, and encountered a ruthless security state that wanted his company for itself.

• Amir Moghadam: an ambitious government bureaucrat, who witnessed corruption and graft on a scale that impelled him to take enormous risks to expose the truth.

• Rozhin Yousefzadeh and Kosar Eftekhari: both born in the 1990s, they escaped their gendered destinies by leaving their hometowns for Tehran, where they joined a mass movement that confronted a ferocious state apparatus: the Woman Life Freedom protests. Each paid an enormous price.

Through vivid and original reporting, Stolen Revolution offers a compulsively readable new story of Iran, centring ordinary Iranians’ lives, whilst providing a visceral understanding of how life is actually lived under a modern authoritarian state. This is a harrowing story of power, corruption and greed – and those brave individuals who fought back.

© Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 20th Century Freedom & Security Middle East Military Modern Politics & Government

Critic reviews

A rare and riveting chronicle of a major political story of our time. Powerful personal stories are woven together to provide new insight and understanding. Well-researched, well-written and well worth reading (Lyse Doucet)
Stolen Revolution is a must-read for anyone seeking an honest appraisal of revolutionary Iran and the bloody twists and turns of its theocratic regime. By narrating Iran’s convulsive modern history through the lives of six Iranians in clear prose and engaging personal detail, authors Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati have turned a potentially complex story into one that is compulsively readable, and they deserve high praise for this achievement. I found Stolen Revolution unputdownable, and cannot recommend it highly enough (Jon Lee Anderson)
This excellent, rigorous, sensitive book tells the tragic but often inspiring story of Iran over the last fifty years. It is a rare window into a rich and varied world of protest, ideology, hope and fear. Essential for anybody interested in the country and the Middle East (Jason Burke, author of THE REVOLUTIONISTS)
This book would have been important to read at any time, but now it is essential reading . . . beautifully written and – in its portrayal of the lives of key Iranians betrayed by the revolution – extraordinarily powerful (Jack Straw, former British Foreign Secretary)
Stolen Revolution is a captivating read, and illuminates the human motivations that drove the 1979 revolution and its fallout. Sharafedin and Torbati's intimate storytelling makes you feel like you have the rare privilege of really knowing the six Iranian protagonists – who will go on to surprise you in the decisions they take. Whether this is your first book on Iran or your tenth, it will show you something new (YUAN YANG, author of PRIVATE REVOLUTIONS)
A profoundly affecting account of life in modern Iran through the eyes and experiences of a group of remarkable – and remarkably brave – individuals. It is also a sobering examination of the brutal instruments of repression the regime employs to maintain power. This is one of the most incisive works on Iranian society in a generation (Scott Anderson, author of KING OF KINGS)
Stolen Revolution is a vital dissection of Iran’s Islamic Republic over the past fifty years. Through the eyes of people at the heart of the country’s progressive resistance, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati reveal the deepest flaws of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime in Iran and the inspiring resilience of those fighting for its improvement. With the world’s gaze on Iran’s future, this compelling history is a must-read (Cara McGoogan, author of THE POISON LINE)
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