Iran, luxury, history, Augustin. Overview of books of the week
Iran-Israel: deciphering fifty years of ideological confrontation
Clément Therme, Iran-Israel. The ideological ware. From 1979 to the present, Tallandier, 202619,90 €
In a Middle Eastern context marked by an unprecedented military escalation, Clément Therme’s latest work stands out as an essential compass for understanding the deep roots of a conflict which goes far beyond the framework of armed confrontations.
The major contribution of this geopolitical synthesis lies in its resolutely historical approach. Rather than limiting himself to the current analysis of current tensions, Therme goes back to the origins of this rivalry by anchoring his story in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a pivotal moment when the Islamic Republic of Iran placed the destruction of Israel at the heart of its political project. This long temporal perspective allows us to grasp the structural, and not the cyclical, dimension of the Iranian-Israeli antagonism. The historian rigorously demonstrates that what is at stake between Tehran and Tel Aviv is not a simple regional competition for hegemony, but a clash of world visions. irreconcilable, fueled by antagonistic national and religious narratives.
One of the essential merits of the work is to clarify the complexity of relations between the Jewish and Persian worlds, marked by a millennia-old history well before contemporary tensions. Therme recalls that ancient Persia was a welcoming land for Jewish communities, and that the cultural and economic links between these two civilizations were rich and fruitful. It is precisely this historical depth which makes the brutal rupture that occurred after 1979 all the more tragic. The Islamic Republic exploited anti-Zionism as an ideological pillar, transforming a political position into a fundamental identity marker of the mullahs’ regime.
The didactic virtues of this synthesis are remarkable. A recognized specialist on Iran, former researcher at the French Institute of International Relations and teacher at Sciences Po Paris, Clément Therme masters the art of making complex geopolitical dynamics accessible without giving in to simplification. His analysis sheds light on the indirect strategies developed by Iran via its regional proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias in Iraq, Houthis in Yemen – while deconstructing the objectives stated on both sides. The author demonstrates that neither the Islamic Republic can hope to destroy Israel by military force nor the Jewish state can obtain a regime change in Tehran without massive American support.
This reading is all the more relevant as the book appears at the very moment when the confrontation reaches a climax: the Israeli-American strikes of February 2026 against Iranian nuclear installations and the escalation in Lebanon remind us that this “ideological war” produces very real consequences. Therme thus offers the keys to understanding that, as long as the Islamic Republic exists in its current form, this conflict will persist, because it is consubstantial with the very identity of the Iranian regime.
Tigrane Yégavian
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Paris, capital of fashion
Paul Morand, The allure of Chanel, Folio8,60 €
Paul Morand tells Chanel telling her story. The author of travels, literary festivals and salons was one of the great friends of Coco Chanel, a major figure in fashion and renovator of Paris as the heart of luxury and the art of living. Morand is writing a book which is a complete mirroring: a biography of Chanel in which she tells herself, of her poor childhood, her move to Paris, her discovery of fashion and how she became the seamstress whose name still shines today.
We discover an intimate Chanel, in all its grandeur and drama, and a vision of the Paris of art and fashion. The book is as much the story of a woman as it is of an environment and an era.
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Rome and the West
Père Emmanuel-Marie, Père Michel, Nicolas Diat, Augustine with usFayard, 2026, €22.90
A three-way exchange to enter the work of Saint Augustine and its current affairs. Since Robert Prévost was elected pope, Augustine has returned to the forefront and we are rediscovering the figure of this Roman who turned Rome and Romanity upside down. Cornerstone of theology, of political reflection, internal struggles, Augustine can frighten you with the immensity of his work. The great advantage of this book is that it is accessible to everyone, whatever the level of knowledge in theology and the history of ideas. Thanks to the dialogue format, the themes are varied and presented in a lively and alert way. It is therefore an excellent introduction to the work and thought of Augustine, not to know the world of yesterday, but to understand that of today.
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Apology of history
Christophe Dick’s, Christianity. A religion of historiansSalvator, 2026, €15.90
The work comes from a conference given at the Catholic Institute of Paris during the opening day of the academic year of canon law. Christophe Dickès returns to the words of Marc Bloch, Jewish and agnostic, who described Christianity as “a religion of historians”. A formula which may surprise and which the author wanted to explore and study. Christophe Dickès thus provides an overview of what makes Christianity specific. Because behind history, there is a reflection on time and its conduct, but also on science, that is to say the work of sources and their authentication, on the free and open debates which must take place in each scientific framework. To say that Christianity is a religion of historians is therefore to go beyond a simple account of past events, it is to anchor a certain vision of man, of politics and of the relationship to myths and reason.
Christophe Dickès demonstrates that this question of history is present from the origins of Christianity, in the Gospels themselves. Subsequently, the Fathers of the Church and the great scholars of the medieval era sought to amplify and deepen this subject. The work ends with a series of texts, from Leo XIII to Francis, where the popes speak of history and its importance. An accessible, clear and well-argued little book, to put in the hands of all those who want to understand what history is.
