The Shah And The Ayatollah

Twenty-two years after Ayatollah Khomeini's ascent to power in Iran many aspects of his 1979 Islamic revolution remain obscure if not baffling. For instance, in November 1978 an offer was made to him in his Paris exile to return to Iran with international guarantees of freedom of speech and action. He refused and demanded the departure of the Shah. Americans put pressure on the monarch to leave the country. Khomeini arrived in Tehran in early February 1979, and he immediately demanded the return of the Shah and his trial before an Islamic tribunal! No one could give a valid explanation of this contradiction in Khomeini's conduct and demands. Many other mysteries in the unfolding of the revolution and the policies of the Islamic republic which replaced the monarchy have gone unexplained up to now. Scholars and experts in the West have offered the usual explanations for the Islamic revolution-corruption, deepening gaps between the rich and the poor, rapid industrialization, sky-rocketing inflation, westernizing policies that offended traditions, lack of democratic institutions, authoritarian rule, and on and on. But such characteristics which exist in other Muslim countries, especially in the Arab world, fail to clairify the particularities of the Iranian revolution. Indeed, as Ambassador Hoveyda points out, Iran is not an Arab country. It has kept alive its ancient mythological heritage which is not Islamic. It is an Indo-European nation with a recorded history of three thousand years! To understand the real causes of the 1979 revolution one must refer to the deep-rooted beliefs of Iranians and to their very rich mythology. One must also take into account the kind of Islam-shiism-Iranians have created and nurtured. In fact, Iran is a powerful example of how mythologies remain alive and can account for the conduct of a whole nation. Hoveyda shows the influence of myths in history-in-the-making. Indeed, he has found in the Iranian revolution many points that can be clarified only by the impact of old mythology and mindsets. He provides a very original explanation of the events that led to the fall of the Shah and the ascent of Khomeini, changing the political and diplomatic situation in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea region. As such it will be of great interest to scholars, students, researchers, and foreign policy makers involved with the Middle East and Islamic fundamentalism.

Examines the life and leadership skills of Ayatollah Khomeini, who established the "ideal Islamic state" in Iran and encouraged Muslims worldwide to demonstrate against non-Islamic nations.

The Islamic Revolution in 1979 transformed Iranian society and reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East. Four decades later, Darioush Bayandor draws upon heretofore untapped archival evidence to reexamine the complex domestic and international dynamics that led to the Revolution. Beginning with the socioeconomic transformation of the 1960s, this book follows the Shah’s rule through the 1970s, tracing the emergence of opposition movements, the Shah’s blunders and miscalculations, the influence of the post-Vietnam zeitgeist and the role of the Carter administration. The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States offers new revelations about how Iran was thrown into chaos and an ailing ruler lost control, with consequences that still reverberate today.

On January 16, 1979, the shah of Iran left the country he had ruled for more than 37 years. The streets of Tehran, Iran's capital, filled with celebration as the news spread that the hated monarchy had been overthrown. The revolution in Iran, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was sparked by many factors, including a widening gap between the different classes of Iranian society, an aggressive campaign of modernization, an ambitious program of land reform, and the brutality of the shah's oppressive regime. Illustrated with full-color and black-and-white photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, bibliography, and further resources, The Iranian Revolution, Updated Edition explains how the revolution's role in propelling Iran from a monarchy to a theocracy dramatically altered life in Iran, and how its aftermath continues to shape the politics of the Middle East today. Historical spotlights and excerpts from primary source documents are also included.

The surprising story of Iran's transformation from America's ally in the Middle East into one of its staunchest adversaries "An original interpretation that puts Iranian actors where they belong: at center stage."--Michael Doran, Wall Street Journal "For the clearest view of Iran for the last 100 years, this book is it."--Marvin Zonis, author of Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah Offering a new view of one of America's most important, infamously strained, and widely misunderstood relationships of the postwar era, this book tells the history of America and Iran from the time the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was placed on the throne in 1941 to the 1979 revolution that brought the present Islamist government to power. This revolution was not, as many believe, the popular overthrow of a powerful and ruthless puppet of the United States; rather, it followed decades of corrosion of Iran's political establishment by an autocratic ruler who demanded fealty but lacked the personal strength to make hard decisions and, ultimately, lost the support of every sector of Iranian society. Esteemed Middle East scholar Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many key events--including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini--significantly revising our understanding of America and Iran's complex and difficult history.