MixedThe New York TimesJohn Ghazvinian, a historian and former journalist, claims, loftily but not altogether without merit, that his book is the \'most extensive and wide-ranging study ever undertaken on the history of U.S.-Iranian relations.\' Ghazvinian has at times taught creative writing, which is evident in the richness and supple prose of the book’s narrative ... In a breezy history, brimming with new details, Ghazvinian combines pithy descriptions and poignant anecdotes ... But if the first section of the book, spring, has fascinating nuggets of insights and facts, the narrative of the last three seasons becomes choppy, falling prey to what Ghazvinian rightly describes as the problem with so many recent studies of United States-Iran relations — the tendency to look for \'someone to blame, or something to defend.\' The root of the problem might well be the noble instincts of what can be called \'progressive\' historiography. These well-intentioned accounts — attempting to correct what they often rightly dismiss as one-sided narratives by offering the perspectives of the historically oppressed — sometimes teeter dangerously close to legitimizing the Islamic Republic of Iran with its claims to represent the marginalized, anticolonial forces, although it is itself the embodiment of harsh forms of authoritarianism ... To be sure, even when we disagree with Ghazvinian, the story he offers is delightfully readable, genuinely informative and impressively literate.
Andrew Scott Cooper
PanThe Wall Street JournalThe book is engaging, but it is, at every turn, in thrall to the Pahlavi view of history ... Mr. Cooper’s book stands out for his access and his willingness to repeat what many of his partisan contacts—including officials from the Carter White House, Iran’s last queen and several of her intimate friends—say to him ... hyperbole or panegyrics, even in the service of a just claim, tend to undermine its force. A narrative that only accentuates the Shah’s accomplishments is no service to his memory—or to history.
