Is it just or not to rise up? Let's leave the question open. The fact is that people do rise up. And it is through rebellion that subjectivity – not that of great men, but of each and every individual – enters history and gives it breath.

Michel Foucault

In 1978, Michel Foucault visited Iran twice and wrote nine articles on the events of the Iranian Revolution, which led to the overthrow of the Shah's regime and the establishment of the "Islamic Republic." The collection of "idea reports" – the result of his collaboration with the newspaper Corriere della sera – forms the central core of the publication.

These are complemented by texts from Maxime Rodinson, a Marxist sociologist and specialist in Islamic societies, which engage with Foucault's articles and deepen, on a theoretical and historical level, the problematic of political Islam. Additionally, relevant interviews, critical texts from a liberal and feminist perspective, and the responses of the French philosopher are included.

Against the backdrop of the conflict between an apparently all-powerful regime and an unyielding popular movement, the writings of Foucault and Rodinson raise key issues: the connection of modernization and economic development with authoritarianism, corruption, impoverishment, and the colonial condition; the relationship of religion and, more broadly, spirituality with radical politics; the place of rebellion within the historical cycle of revolutions and counter-revolutions; the crisis of classic models of revolutionary politics and its implications for future struggles.