A survey of the development of Shi'ite religious doctrines and practices throughout history, probably useful for somebody new to the topic. Can get daunting when discussing minute judicial and philosophical concepts and their evolution, but nonetheless very useful in understanding how these came about to deliver the ultimate conclusion of Shi'ism: the Islamic Republic of Iran (this is the way the book is phrased, not my personal opinion).
What's most interesting to me about this book is what it says (in passing) about a controversial aspect of Shi'ism today, basically how much of it is "Persian". You'll see that the origins of Shi'ism is purely Iraqi-Arab, beginning as political activism that slowly crystallized into religious dogma. However, a great deal of Shi'ism as it is today comes from Safavid Iran, where disparate traditions were synethesized, ziyara was institutionalized and the present ayatollah marji'iya system (which has always been dominated by Persians) was created. Everything is touched upon very quickly though, so I'd need to read books more specialized about the aspects that caught my attention. As a general survey book, it is pretty decent.