The Shah, whose people revered him for millennia as the "Light of the Aryans" and "Shadow of God on Earth," begins his day with courtiers kissing his hand and observing age-old ceremonial rituals. His closest confidant, Asadollah Alam, acts as both diplomat and family therapist, shuttling between quarreling royals. Meanwhile, George Braswell, a Baptist missionary, teaches comparative religion in Tehran and somehow finds himself in secret prayer sessions where tinny cassette tapes of Ayatollah K...

I'm going to regret writing this review, but here goes:I'm absolutely furious with this book and can't bring myself to finish it. It's a DNF (Did Not Finish) after about 200 pages.While *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah* might be interesting for someone who isn't Iranian, for me – someone who was born and raised in Iran and knows the events, the 'when, why, who, and where' – this book just doesn't cut it!First off, when you're writing about a historical event, especially one concerning anothe...

Scott Anderson's "King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah" is a deeply sympathetic, though not uncritical, portrayal of the Shah's downfall. Anderson anchors his narrative on interviews with former Pahlavi insiders living in exile, including a SAVAT officer and, crucially, the Shahbanou herself. While he clearly empathizes with their perspectives, he doesn't shy away from pointing out flaws – for example, he suggests Andrew Cooper goes a bit overboard in his assessment. If you're looking for insight...

A step-by-step analysis of how the Iranian Revolution came to be: a king who lost touch with his people. One disastrous U.S. policy after another; Nixon and Kissinger using Iran as a Cold War pawn, helping it build the 5th largest army in the world for its oil, the Carter administration continuing the same mistakes and bungling the hostage crisis, which led to Carter's election defeat and a takeover by a fundamentalist cleric. The consequences of which we're still dealing with to this day. Scott...

After reading Ben Macintyre's *The Siege*, I felt compelled to pick up Scott Anderson's *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah*. Macintyre's book touched on the 444-day American hostage crisis in Tehran while detailing the hostage situation and rescue attempts at the Iranian embassy in London. It made me wonder: what exactly was going on in Iran during that pivotal moment in modern history? And more broadly, what was Iran's history all about? Anderson does a phenomenal job of weaving together all ...

Good and informative, but it always makes me sad thinking about what happened in Iran in 1979. Scott Anderson's *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah* is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the complexities of Iranian history and the events leading up to the revolution. It's a deeply affecting read, though. Knowing the outcome makes the journey all the more heartbreaking. As far as history books go, this one really sticks with you. If you're looking for insightful book reviews on modern...

Growing up as an Iranian girl, I heard one version of life under the Shah at home, and a completely different one at school. Add to that the constant conspiracy theories, and I’ve always wondered what really happened back then. *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah* is a skillful, even-handed, and utterly engrossing account of the events, the blunders, and the key figures that shaped the revolution and determined its final result. Scott Anderson also explores the aftermath, the ignorance and misj...

Scott Anderson ultimately puts forth a compelling argument: the success of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 was aided and abetted, if not a direct result of, hubristic and surprisingly ill-informed administrative cultures within both the Shah's government and the U.S. State Department. Anderson's laser focus on the staff of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the 70s, members of the Carter administration, the Shah himself, and a handful of leading figures in the revolutionary vanguard (from moderate...

Once you accept that Scott Anderson has chosen to frame the Iranian revolution largely as a story of American foreign policy failure, his account in *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah* is completely absorbing, even thrilling at times. What surprised just about everyone at the time (even the revolutionaries) was how quickly things fell apart in Iran once the first cracks started showing. Between the speed of the revolution, the slowness of the Shah’s decision-making, and the stubbornness behind...

I was really looking forward to *King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah* by Scott Anderson. Recent events have made Iran a pretty hot topic, but what really drew me in was how little I actually knew about the whole story. Turns out, the Shah, his government, and the Carter administration were all pretty much in the same boat.First off, I have to give Scott Anderson props for making this narrative so easy to follow. The Iranian Revolution didn't build up and explode like a lot of other revolutions i...