Andrew Scott Cooper brings the Shah, along with his colorful retinue and turbulent times, back to life. It is revisionist history in parts — and mostly sympathetic to the king and his queen Farah. She was among the many people the author interviewed for this thoroughly researched and richly detailed account.
Cooper shows his hand with his title. He is determined to focus on what was heavenly in imperial Iran, while glossing over the grievances that led to the political revolt ... The chief problem with Cooper’s account is his reflexive hostility toward Islamism writ large, which ends up being analytically debilitating ... Cooper’s whisper-by-whisper retelling of the shah’s final days is often rich in detail, but he resorts too often to Aladdin-lamp-lit analysis.
The 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.
Although Cooper also portrays the shah during the final months of his reign as being indecisive and out of touch, the negatives of his tenure receive too little mention ... overwrought characterizations pervade The Fall of Heaven, which is a shame because Cooper has amassed much important information, particularly about the final months when the shah's rule disintegrated. But some of his sources' personal agendas are obvious, creating credibility problems for the book's narrative.
[Cooper] offers a convincing narrative about who the man was and the dynamics that led to his downfall ... This sober narrative will resonate with many Iranians — including myself — who lived under the grim conditions Khomeini introduced after the revolution. As other countries in the Middle East are going through similar transformations and vying for political reform, Cooper reminds us of the ability of power-hungry leaders, capable of manipulating people’s desire for change, to build even more brutal and unaccountable systems.
