The fall of heaven
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Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
"In this remarkably human portrait of one of the twentieth century's most complicated personalities, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Andrew Scott Cooper traces the Shah's life from childhood through his ascension to the throne in 1941. He draws the turbulence of the post-war era during which the Shah survived assassination attempts and coup plots to build a modern, pro-Western state and launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers. Readers get the story of the Shah's political career alongside the story of his courtship and marriage to Farah Diba, who became a power in her own right, the beloved family they created, and an exclusive look at life inside the palace during the Iranian Revolution. Cooper's investigative account ultimately delivers the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty through the eyes of those who were there: leading Iranian revolutionaries; President Jimmy Carter and White House officials; US Ambassador William Sullivan and his staff in the American embassy in Tehran; American families caught up in the drama; even Empress Farah herself, and the rest of the Iranian Imperial family. Intimate and sweeping at once, The Fall of Heaven recreates in stunning detail the dramatic and final days of one of the world's most legendary ruling families, the unseating of which helped set the stage for the current state of the Middle East"--
Reviews with the most likes.
A detailed and well researched book about Iran in the 20th century, culminating in the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. The author does have a clear perspective that is sympathetic to the Shah, but he is also clear eyed in his criticism of the Shahs personality traits that played an important part in the way history unfolded. Given the popular revisionist narrative that the Shah was a brutal, corrupt buffoon, I think it was fair for the author to set the record straight. The Shah was flawed, but not nearly as brutal or bloodthirsty as made out. His inability to deal well with critisim and bad news, and his poor judgement of character was a fatal Achilles heel, but it was only one part of his narrative.
The book also does a good job of explaining the intentional brutality and extremism of Khoemeni, who in some western eyes was seen as a popular liberator.. He was not.
I agree with some of the other reviews that the author is ridiculously over exuberant about Queen Farah. He should have toned this down, because it sounds almost like a PR agency working on a client account.
History is never completely objective, but it is hard to imagine a counterfactual where the Shah surviving and continuing would not have been a net positive for Iran, the Middle East, and possibly the world.
