Much of her political analysis is wrong-headed, even dishonest.
She terms President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-97) a pragmatist who sought to promote technocrats and calls his five-year economic plans "successful," despite the brain drain, unemployment, and corruption that characterized his administration.
She also omits mention of Rafsanjani's role in Iran's covert nuclear program or his threatened first use of an atomic bomb against Israel.
She is likewise sympathetic to current "reformist" president Mohammad Khatami despite his failure to implement any substantive reform and his silence in the wake of crackdowns against democrats and dissidents [during the uprising of the students in July 2009].
When Keddie speaks of "new independence for girls and women," she forgets to note that, unlike the women in other Middle Eastern countries, those in Iran are fighting to regain rights they once had [under the Shah].
Keddie concludes by juxtaposing Iran's recent "pragmatic and realistic" policy with the "ideological and threatening" stance of the United States.
The increasingly frequent anti-Islamic Republic demonstrations taking place in Iran, coupled with voter turnout of less than 10 percent in many provinces in this year's parliamentary elections, suggests that many Iranians have a different view of the results of the Islamic Revolution.