Pamela Karimi's Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran is a welcome contribution to the small but growing literature on consumption in Middle East studies. Karimi argues that “the home, as both physical entity and metaphor, is essential to the understanding of social power structures in studies focusing on gender and post-colonial themes and of theories regarding the critical links between space and identity” (p. 6). A key aspect of focusing on the home is making Iranians themselves agents in their own history. Karimi bridges several bodies of literature: feminist literature on the household ranging from Betty Friedan to Ruth Schwartz Cowan, the growing literature on domesticity in Iran, and writings on art/architecture. The period of time examined in this study begins in the late Qajar period and concludes with the Islamic Republic, discussed in an epilogue.

One of the major themes of the book is how Iranians have contended with Western influence, technology, and commodities for much of the 20th century. The author is clear in her argument that Iranians were in control of their own destiny. Whether through changes imposed by the state, schools created by missionaries, or the semicolonial status imposed by the oil industry, Iranians steadfastly chose what to put or not put in their homes and how to build them. Nevertheless, all these processes served to bring Western commodities to Iran and change the lay out of domestic interiors. “Perhaps the most important characteristic of these homes was the extent to which they provided new spaces for modern nuclear families. … As families became more compact, all the spaces within the home contributed to the welfare of the nuclear family” (p. 63). Gone were traditional interior courtyards, and added were new features, such as balconies and bay windows.

What could have been the most pivotal chapter in the book, “The Cold War: Economics of Desire and Domesticity,” falls short due to imbalanced coverage, historiographical shortcomings, and factual error. While the author purports to pit efforts of the Point IV program against efforts by the Tudeh party, she spends nearly the entire chapter on the Americans. At most, four of the thirty-five pages deal with the Soviet Union and the role of leftist women's magazines that eschewed Western notions of consumption. There really is not much “war” to the chapter, but a vast campaign embodied in the Point IV program. Interestingly enough, the author does not engage or discuss other works on the Point IV program, notably, Jonathan Alterman's Egypt & American Foreign Assistance (New York: Palgrave, 2002). For that matter, the author seems content not to examine the large and growing body of literature in the field on women, domesticity, education, and consumption outside of Iran, e.g. Nancy Reynolds (2012), Ellen Fleischmann (2003), and Akram Khater (2001). Perhaps what I found most shocking, in this otherwise well-researched, beautifully illustrated monograph was the most egregious factual error in a Cold War chapter. While underscoring the importance of the so-called “Kitchen-Debate” between Nixon and Khrushchev, which she argues “extend[ed] not only to missiles and spheres of interest but also automobiles, washing machines, and toaster ovens” she refers to Nixon as the president in 1959 (p. 90). For someone dedicating a chapter in her book to the Cold War, she ought to at least know who is president and who is vice-president. I find it shocking that not a single reviewer, friend, or editor at Routledge caught this error. It does call into question the author's ability to examine Cold War policies, why she visited only the Truman Library and not the Eisenhower or Kennedy Libraries. The citations from the chapter reflect this lack of research, as well as her willingness to make broad generalizations based on secondary sources. Rather than using Point IV literature or American archives to supplement the claims of a secondary source (or at least to validate a timeframe), the author states that “when Point IV specialists had a hard time convincing people not to use naturally occurring ice … they made the easily accessible free sources undesirable by contaminating them with colored liquids” (p. 96). While I have little doubt that this took place, whether it happened for a week, a month, a year, or many years makes a difference, and using corroborating sources would have been ideal.

Aside from this criticism, which ultimately does not detract from the author's overall arguments, I found the book to be highly enjoyable and effective with a wide variety of primary source material. Karimi visited educational, art, housing, foreign affairs, and finance archives in Iran; the Truman Library, Presbyterian archives, the Library of Congress, as well as some other special collections in the United States; the archives of BP in United Kingdom (and Iranian Oil Company in Iran); and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Switzerland. It is the best-illustrated monograph that I have seen in years. There are more than 150 illustrations, figures, and pictures bringing to life the words on the pages.

With respect to readership, there is a wide potential audience. While the text speaks to an audience familiar with women and gender studies, it also speaks to an audience familiar with architecture, space, and its anthropological implications. Finally, it speaks to an audience interested in reading the history of Iran from the perspective of its consumers. It is accessible enough to be read by upper-division undergraduates; however, I expect its greatest readership among graduate students and professionals in the field.