All the Shah's Men

Stephen Kinzer does an amazing job documenting the history of Iran, the discovery of oil fields and how it affected the country, all the way to what led to the coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and put Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi back on the throne in 1953. Little did anyone know that this would be the CIA's first step in what would become their infamous legacy of ashes and would lead to the Islamic revolution of 1979 and everything that came after.

However, his conclusions are a bit far-fetched and show that he looks at this through rose-tinted glasses. While there's no denying that the Dulles brothers, Dwight Eisenhower, and Winston Churchill are directly responsible for the CIA coup and its far-reaching repercussions, to believe that the nascent Iranian democracy would somehow have resisted the Islamist radicalisation and violent extremism that swept through the Middle East in the 70s and afterwards feels more than a little preposterous.

Other than that, Kinzer's All the Shah's Men is an incredible read that will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the genesis of the USA-Iran conflict.

Here's the blurb:

With a thrilling narrative that sheds much light on recent events, this national bestseller brings to life the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that ousted the country’s elected prime minister, ushered in a quarter-century of brutal rule under the Shah, and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and The Economist, it now features a new preface by the author on the folly of attacking Iran.

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.