All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

This book puts the present Iranian situation in historical perspective. I learned a lot about the plight of the Iranian people and their struggles in the 1920's to 1950's. It has more to do with the Father of Iranian democracy than the Shah of Iran. The book flows like an action novel.
Enjoy!

A very informative and "readable" account of an important and overlooked episode in world history.

As far as style, the author uses a lot of interesting detail to breathe life into the historic account so that it is anything but dry.

As far as content, I think that this book serves to remind Americans (including myself) that our country's cold war policies were often anti-democratic and had long-term consequences that we are still feeling this day. Whether or not one believes that they were justified at the time, it is important to read histories such as these to understand the repercussions of these policies - in this case, our extremely problematic relationship with Iran today.

at a time when a it seems a new middle-east/terrorism/iraq/iran book is coming out every week- its nice to finally see a book that is based in a historical perspective. this book tells such a well-scripted story its almost easy to forget its nonfiction. the authors pacing is that of a suspense novel and his command of middle-eastern history and politics is impressive at the least. if you had to pick one book on the middle east - forget the embedded/nonembedded reporters/Bush analysis etc... and pick a book that relies on historical record rather than opinion.

While very interested in the subject matter, the monotonous narration failed to hold my attention for very long. I finally gave up after a couple of hours. I'll buy the Kindle version and read it rather than fight through the narration. I can't recommend the audio version of this book.

This is a fascinating tale (almost a spy novel) of how Iran - one of the biggest supporters of US in the middle east turned against it. Yes, even I couldn't believe that Iran was not only pro-US but loved and looked upto it. This is an incredulous tale of the role of oil, US allies and its deep seated insecurities about communism cost it one of its finest allies.It is not only timely given the brouhaha surrounding Iran's nukes but an important lesson in the unintended consequences of interference in world affairs.A must read.

The story of the CIA-sponsored coup to topple the government of Mohammad Mossaddegh isn't well-known outside of Iran (the US didn't acknowledge the effort until a little over a decade ago), and even among individuals who are aware of it, not much is known about the machinations behind it or even of the events as they unfolded on the street. "All the Shah's Men" does a great job of presenting a clear (clearer, anyway!) picture of the event which, although almost sixty years in the past, continues to haunt the world to this day.
I was worried that this book, as increasingly so many historical books seem to be, would be in some way overly biased. Of course, no historical work is without bias, and AtSM is no exception. However, these instances are rare, and seem inadvertent rather than polemical, and I was impressed by the objective, sober analysis that Kinzer brings to this very important historical event.
Michael Prichard's narration is good, but the production isn't especially. The reading sounds muffled and breathy, but it's adequate and not terribly distracting.
A highly-recommended read!

I really enjoyed this book and thought it gave a really nice foundation for understanding the history of Iran and how the 1953 coup changed Iran and its relationship with America and shaped the rest of subsequent history. I liked that it was written recently enough to have a view to subsequent events, which inescapably color one's view of the coup. The narrator grew on me, although he is a little stiff. All in all, I would say it is a great quick read and would highly recommend it.

At moments, Kinzer can't bring himself to draw strong enough conclusions about the paint-peeling, hugely important international crimes he documents. But he tells a great, disastrous hidden history with amazing detail and skilled timing.

We should know the dark history of our Nation every bit as thoroughly as we know about its success. What a terrible thing we did in the days of the Red Scare.

Although I wasn't crazy about the narrator or sound quality, the subject matter and writing were engaging. Shame on Ike for allowing the coup to happen!