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The Last Shah

America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty

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The surprising story of Iran's transformation from America's ally in the Middle East into one of its staunchest adversaries

Offering a new view of one of America's most important, infamously strained, and widely misunderstood relationships of the postwar era, this book tells the history of America and Iran from the time the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was placed on the throne in 1941 to the 1979 revolution that brought the present Islamist government to power. This revolution was not, as many believe, the popular overthrow of a powerful and ruthless puppet of the United States; rather, it followed decades of corrosion of Iran's political establishment by an autocratic ruler who demanded fealty but lacked the personal strength to make hard decisions and, ultimately, lost the support of every sector of Iranian society.

Esteemed Middle East scholar Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many key events-including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini-significantly revising our understanding of America and Iran's complex and difficult history.

©2021 Ray Takeyh (P)2022 Tantor Middle East Political Science Politics & Government World Iran American History Military American Foreign Policy War
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This is a very informative narration of modern Iran from the exile of the last Shah’s father through the life of the last Shah until his overthrow and then the more recent period under the ayatollahs. The author provides fascinating accounts of the varied figures who played a role in creating the world’s major terrorist nation. The book explains the Shah’s failure to lead his country was the result of his genuine efforts - albeit misguided - to liberalise Iran after his father’s dictatorship with his own form of benevolent dictatorship. The role of America and Britain are carefully explained. While the Americans were intimately connected with the regime until the Shah’s overthrow in 1979, as too were the British, the chief cause of his downfall and radicalisation of the country was the Shah himself. Coupled of course with the fanatical mendacious tyrant who replaced him, Khomeini.

Informative and fascinating history of modern Iran.

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