King of Kings

From the author of the acclaimed ;;;;On November 16th, 1977, at a state dinner in the White House, President Jimmy Carter toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, Shadow of God on Earth, praising his “enlightened leadership” and extolling Iran as “a stabilizing influence in that part of the world.”; Iran had the world’s fifth largest army and was awash in billions of dollars in oil revenues.; Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its booming capital, Tehran.; The regime’s feared secret police force SAVAK had crushed communist opposition, and the Shah had bought off the conservative Muslim clergy inside the country.; He seemed invulnerable, and invaluable to the United States as an ally in the Cold War.; Fourteen months later the Shah fled Iran into exile, forced from the throne by a volcanic religious revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. How could the United States, which had one of the largest CIA stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran, have been so blind? ;;;;The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator oblivious to the disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster.; The Shah emerges as a fascinating, Shakespearean character – a wannabe Richard III unaware of the depth of dissent to his rule, indecisive like Hamlet when action was called for, and at the end Lear-like as he raged against his fate.; The Americans made terrible decisions at almost every juncture, from a secret pact designed by Kissinger and Nixon, to dismissing reports from the one diplomat who saw how hated the Shah was by the Iranian people (unlike almost all his colleagues, he spoke Farsi), to Jimmy Carter allowing the Shah to come to America for medical treatment, which set off the hostage crisis which forever damaged American influence in the world. ;;;;Scott Anderson tells this astonishing tale with the narrative brio, mordant wit, and keen analysis that made his bestselling LAWRENCE IN ARABIA one of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East.; Based on voluminous research and dozens of interviews, KING OF KINGS is driven by penetrating portraits of the people involved – the Iranian-American doctor who convinced American officials Khomeini was a moderate; the American teacher who learned of Khomeini’s influence long before the cleric was even mentioned in official reports; the Shah’s court minister who kept a detailed diary of all their interactions; the Shah’s wife Farah who still mourns her lost kingdom; the hypocritical and misguided Jimmy Carter; and the implacable Khomeini who outmaneuvered his foes at every turn. ;;;;The Iranian Revolution, Anderson convincingly argues, was as world-shattering an event as the French and Russian revolutions.; In the Middle East, in India, in Southeast Asia, in Europe, and now in the United States, the hatred of economically-marginalized, religiously-fervent masses for a wealthy secular elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the template.; KING OF KINGS is a bravura work of history, and a warning....

Autorentext

Scott Anderson

Klappentext

**PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • From the author of the landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory narrative history of the Iranian Revolution, one of the most momentous events in modern times. This groundbreaking work exposes the jaw-dropping stupidity of the American government and traces the rise of religious nationalism, offering essential insights into today's global unrest.

“A masterful and propulsive account that chronicles a devastatingly transformative series of events whose aftereffects reverberate to this day.” —The Kirkus Prize 2025 Jury

“An exceptional and important book. Scrupulous and enterprising reporting rarely combine with such superb storytelling.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A masterful and gripping account. Anderson gives us a page-turning history lesson that is more relevant than ever.” —Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a finalist for the National Book Award**

On New Year’s Eve, 1977, on a state visit to Iran, President Jimmy Carter toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, Shadow of God on Earth, praising Iran as “an island of stability “ due to “your leadership and the respect and admiration and love which your people give to you.” Iran had the world’s fifth largest army and was awash in billions of dollars in oil revenues.  Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its booming capital, Tehran.  The regime’s feared secret police force SAVAK had crushed communist opposition, and the Shah had bought off the conservative Muslim clergy inside the country.  He seemed invulnerable, and invaluable to the United States as an ally in the Cold War.  Fourteen months later the Shah fled Iran into exile, forced from the throne by a volcanic religious revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. The ensuing hostage crisis forever damaged America’s standing in the world.  How could the United States, which had one of the largest CIA stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran, have been so blind?

The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator blind to the disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. Scott Anderson tells this astonishing tale with the narrative brio, mordant wit, and keen analysis that made his bestselling Lawrence of Arabia one of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East.  The Iranian Revolution, Anderson convincingly argues, was as world-shattering an event as the French and Russian revolutions.  In the Middle East, in India, in Southeast Asia, in Europe, and now in the United States, the hatred of economically-marginalized, religiously-fervent masses for a wealthy secular elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the template.  King of Kings is a bravura work of history, and a warning.

Leseprobe
PREFACE

“The Shah will be an active participant in Iranian life well into the 1980s. . . . There will be no radical change in Iranian political behavior in the near future.” —secret CIA report, “Iran in the 1980s,” August 1977, five months before the start of revolution

At about 10:20 on the morning of November 15, 1977, two Sikorsky Sea King helicopters came in low across the Potomac River and made for the flat grassy expanse at the southern base of the Washington Monument. The green- and-white helicopters with their military insignia were part of the presidential fleet known as HMX-1, and on board the lead aircraft was the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, together with his wife, Farah, and a small royal entourage. The primary purpose of the trailing helicopter was to serve as a decoy.

Waiting alongside the helipad were half a dozen black limousines, along with several Secret Service vehicles and a phalanx of motorcycle police outriders. For security reasons, only a handful of officials knew which limousine would transport the shah to the White House, a mere half a mile away. It was the Iranian monarch’s twelfth visit to the United States since assuming the imperial throne thirty-six years before. Over the course of those visits, he had met at the White House with six different American presidents, beginning with Harry Truman. He was now about to meet his seventh: Jimmy Carter.

The shah had been appr…