Iranian Political Satirists; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Table of contents; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1. Introduction: The book, the topic and the author; Why do satirists do what they do?; Outline of the book; A foreword on Iran: A preliminary chapter; Chapter 2. Tradition and inheritance: Humor and satire in classical Persian literature; Satire in Ancient Persia; Hajv writers in Persian literature; Satirical weapons for particular purposes; Satire in personal quarrels; Social satire; Jocular works and socio-political motivation; Satire in moral and mystical texts.

Satirizing hypocrisyPioneering professional satire in Iran: Obeyd Zakani; Food, clothes and parody!; Motivations for irony and satire in Historical Times; Chapter 3. Modern experience: Political satire in contemporary Iranian media; The advent of print and political satire in Iran; Political satire under the reign of the Pahlavis; Political satire under the Islamic Regime: Home and abroad; Iranian political satire in new media; Chapter 4. Theoretical approaches to humor and satire; Earlier studies of Persian satire and humor.

Studies of socio-political satire in the "Constitutional Revolution Era"Eye witness reports by satirists and journalists; International studies on motivation in political satire and humor; Power, politics, satire and the press; Political satire outside the press; Chapter 5. A conceptual and theoretical framework; Conceptualizing humor and satire; Persian satire or tanz; Analyzing satire: Functions, forms and components; Satirists and political satire; The motivations of satirists; Theoretical background for the study of humor and satire; Superiority theory; Relief theory; Incongruity theory.

Integrating relevant theoriesApplying a theoretical framework to satirists' motivations; Chapter 6. Exploring the data: Methodology and process; Designing procedures for the research; Collecting the data; Selecting sample material: The satirists; Hadi Khorsandi; Ebrahim Nabavi; Abolfazl Zaruee; Roya Sadr; Mana Neyestani; Firoozeh Mozaffari; Hadi Heidari; Pouria Alami; F.M. Sokhan (pen name); Analyzing the data; Establishing and using a coding frame; Drawing conclusions from the coded data; Chapter 7. Arriving at insights: Findings from research; Establishing the unified coding frame.

Roya Sadr (°1950, writer and humor scholar)Ebrahim Nabavi (°1958, writer and comedian); Mana Neyestani (°1973, cartoonist); Hadi Khorsandi (°1943, poet and writer); Abolfazl Zaruee (°1969, poet and writer); Firoozeh Mozaffari (°1970, cartoonist); Pouria Alami (°1982, writer); Hadi Heidari (°1978, cartoonist and humor scholar); F.M. Sokhan (°?, writer); Applying the general matrix; Chapter 8. Drawing conlusions; Motivations related to superiority theory; Motivations related to relief theory; Relief functions of satire: Safety valve or weapon of the weak?