Written with superb narrative fluency and marshalling a wealth of
scholarship and firsthand experience, this is a masterful
recounting of American involvement in Iran from the 1940's to the
"secret reentry" of 1985-86. Bill (International Studies/William
and Mary), an Iran-scholar of distinction, presents this history as
a "case study" in the failure of US foreign policy. In embracing
the Shah after engineering the overthrow of Musaddiq in 1953, the
US, Bill avers, set in motion social forces that culminated in the
Iranian Revolution - after Vietnam, the greatest debacle in postwar
foreign policy. Bill shows conclusively that this debacle was
inevitable, especially given the "massive ignorance, bureaucratic
conflict, Soviet-centricity, economic obsession and the prevalence
of informal or privatized decision making" that distinguished the
American approach to Iran. Identifying the Shah and his elite
coterie with the Iranian people, the US deluded itself into
believing that its massive investment in modernizing and arming
Iran brought stability to the country. Bill documents the "politics
of greed, misunderstanding, oppression and suffering" that marked
this consort with the Shah. He examines in full the tyranny of the
Shah, the politics of oil, the seduction of the American
establishment ("Pahlavism in America"), the rise of Khomeini and
Islamic fundamentalism, the proclamation of an Islamic Republic,
the taking of the American hostages, the arms-for-hostages overture
of the Reagan Administration. He also analyzes the intelligence and
policy failures that further magnified the debacle, and concludes
his definitive study with "twelve foreign policy lessons" that
address the "systematic" nature of American foreign policy failure.
A profoundly important, moving, and timely book that reveals a
tragic tale of American arrogance and ignorance. (Kirkus Reviews)
A thought-provoking exploration of the American-Iranian
relationship, from the 1940s through the Iran-Contra affair and its
aftermath. James Bill, a well-known authority on the Middle East,
has not only lived in Iran but also closely observed U.S.
policy-making toward that country. He draws on interviews with many
of the key American and Iranian figures, embassy files, Persian
sources, archival records, and other sources from both countries to
write this definitive analysis of American-Iranian relations. "A
surprisingly fresh rendition of events. ... Bill's well-constructed
narrative will hold the non-expert reader's interest."-Jim
Hoagland, Washington Post Book World "A searching study of
America's relations with Iran since World War II. ... A powerful
book that should be widely read and taken seriously."-John C.
Campbell, Foreign Affairs "Essential reading."-Andrew Gowers,
Financial Times "By far the most searching study of contemporary
United States-Iranian relations I have encountered."-George W. Ball
"A carefully documented hard-hitting case study of the reasons
behind America's trials and tribulations in the Third
World."-Melvin R. Laird "The most detailed and vivid account yet of
America's encounter with Iran."-Fouad Ajami, New York Times Book
Review Selected by Library Journal as one of their Best Books of
1988.
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