Iran's modern history is marked by repeated surges of democratic aspiration, each met with repression severe enough to dismantle the movements but never to extinguish the underlying desire for political freedom. Misagh Parsa, a sociologist at Dartmouth College who has spent decades studying Iranian politics, examines why democratic movements in Iran have risen with such force and yet failed to dislodge the theocratic regime. The book traces the arc from the constitutional revolution of the early twentieth century through the upheavals that followed the 1979 Islamic Revolution, giving particular attention to the Green Movement of 2009, when millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest a disputed presidential election. Parsa analyzes the Green Movement's organizational strengths and fatal weaknesses — its reliance on reformist leaders who were themselves products of the regime, the security apparatus's willingness to use lethal force against protesters, and the international community's reluctance to intervene. He argues that the conflict between the Islamic Republic and its citizens who demand genuine democratic participation is structurally irreconcilable: the regime's legitimacy rests on theocratic authority that cannot accommodate popular sovereignty without undermining itself. The book also examines the role of economic grievances, ethnic and religious diversity, and the diaspora in shaping opposition politics. Parsa does not offer easy optimism about Iran's democratic future, but he documents the persistence of democratic ideals within Iranian society and lays out the conditions under which meaningful political change might eventually become possible.