Joseph J. St. Marie, Assistant Professor of International Development and Affairs Ph.D. Program, The University of Southern Mississippi, USA and Shahdad Naghshpour, Professor of International Development and Affairs Ph.D. Program, The University of Southern Mississippi, USA

• Acknowledgments; Chapter 1 Low-Intensity Conflict and Fourth Generation Warfare; Chapter 2 Early Contacts; Chapter 3 End of Qajar and the beginning of Pahlavi Dynasty (1914–1925); Chapter 4 The Beginning of American Influence; Chapter 5 Economic Relations between the United States and Iran; Chapter 6 The 1979 Revolution and the Beginning of the Conflict with the United States; Chapter 7 Low-Level Military Confrontation in the Persian Gulf; Chapter 8 The Future of the Relationship;

'The literature on Iran and US relations is ever growing, which is interesting as the two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980! Yet contact between the two has been steady, if not frequent: in Iraq, Afghanistan, in nuclear politics, and also Middle East regional security, the two have both direct and indirect contacts, and have between 2004 and 2007 been involved in structured discussions about a wide range of issues. But in 2008, in the dying days of the Bush presidency, the two countries did concede to meeting publicly to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear programme, which was followed in December 2010 by another meeting in Geneva between Iran and the 5+1 (permanent members of the Security Council + Germany) over Iran's nuclear programme. To better understand these recent happenings, the new book by St.Marie and Naghshpour acts as an invaluable facilitator.' Anoush Ehteshami, Durham University, UK