Abbas Amanat (Persian: عباس امانت) (born November 14, 1947) is an Iranian-American Professor of History & International Studies at Yale University. He received his B.A. from Tehran University in 1971 and his D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1981. He is the brother of the architect Hossein Amanat who designed the Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran and the Seat of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel.
Amanat began teaching in the Department of History, Yale University in 1983. In 2015 he is a Professor of History and International Studies and Director of the Yale Program in Iranian Studies. Amanat is a historian of Iran, Shia Islam, and the modern Middle East. He specializes in Qajar Iran as well as history of messianic and apocalyptic movements in the Islamic world.
Amanat, Abbas (March 1, 1989). Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801420986.(In this study of millennarian movements in Shi'i Iran and Iraq Amanat draws attention to complementary cultural, religious and socieconomic contexts. He views messianic movements as agents of renewal and indigenous reform often in contrast to the religious establishment. Utilizing new material, he reexamines the life and time of the founder of the movement, the Bab, and career of the celebrated Babi leader and poetes Qurrat al-'Ayn (Taherah) and her contribution to the shaping of the movement.)
Amanat, Abbas (November 15, 2008). The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845118280.(The life and political career of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar is the material for a case study of tensions within the institution of Persian monarchy and its encounter with forces of modernity. Its Persian translation: Qebleh-e Alam (trans. Hasan Kamshad, Tehran: Nashr Karnameh, 2004) stirred much debate especially with reference to the revisionist treatment of the celebrated premier Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir)
Amanat, Abbas (March 15, 2009). Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845119812.(looking at diverse trends in Iranian Shi'ism and within the broader context of Islamic apocalyptic movements, this book argues how ancient apocalyptic trends reemerged during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and exploited afterwards by the state)
Amanat, Abbas; Vahman, Fereydun (August 1, 2016). Az Tehran Ta Akka: Babiyan Va Bahaiyan Dar Asnad Dowran-E Qajar. Ashkaar Publishers. ISBN 9780997676907.(this is a documentary history of the Babi movement in exile and during the birth of the Baha'i Faith viewed through the lens of Iranian and Ottoman officials)
Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi’ism (2009)
Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896 (1997)
Resurrection and Renewal: the Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850 (1989)
Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity (1995)
Iran Facing Others: Identity Boundaries in a Historical Perspective (2012)
Is There a Middle East?: The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept (2011)
Shari’a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context (2007)
U.S.-Middle East Historical Encounters: A Critical Survey (2007)
Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse from Ancient Middle East to Modern America (2002)
Cities and Trade: Consul Abbot on the Economy and Society of Iran, 1847-1866 (London: Ithaca Press, 1983)
