Current Issue

Why Did the United States Overthrow the Prime Minister of Iran in 1953? A Review Essay on the Historiography of the Archetypical Intervention in the Third World During the Cold War
Sener Akturk

This review essay looks at the causes of the covert U.S. intervention in Iran in 1953, which overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Musaddiq, and turned Iran into a de facto autocracy. The argument of the essay is that, as opposed to economic interests or strategic considerations, it was American perceptions of Musaddiq and of the Iranian people in general that determined the course of U.S. foreign policy toward Iran.

The Garden City in Zionist Planning
Jesse Roseman

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the accession of the British Mandate, plans for Palestine increasingly reflected the ideals associated with Ebenezer Howard's influential concept of the "Garden City." This was partially because visiting British planners who would be intimately involved in early plan developments, such as Patrick Geddes, had been influenced by these ideals. Also, early Zionist planners were trained in leading European architecture schools, further spreading the concept's influence. The utility of the Garden City in accomplishing the central Zionist goal of settling Jewish people in the land of Israel through agricultural and building pursuits, however, is presented as the main reason for the concept's thorough application in planning efforts. Althought the direct application of a theory developed in Europe ultimately proved limited in the Middle Eastern context, its impact on the region's people, landscape, and urban form remains as a guide for future development.