Andrew Scott Copper writes extremely well. His research is thorough. He paced the story well. It is a joy to read this account of the Fall of Heaven—the Iranian Revolution of 1978—40 years after the fall.
The strength of this book is that Copper begins with the life of the Shah’s father and proceeds to give us a full biography of the Shah before he details in Part 2 the events that led to the Revolution.
What he reveals is a man who cares deeply for his people and is averse to hard decisions. Numerous times he shied away from ordering his troops to suppress coups against his government.
It also didn’t help that the Americans, his supposed ally, pressed him to restrain his forces while supporting the revolutionaries behind his back.
This is a book that will make painful reading for Americans leaders; and the people of Iran who favours the old days.
Carter failed his ally in his hour of need. He proceeded to do peace work [and won the Noble Prize for Peace in 2002]. Some say to atone for his sins.
Ambassador Sullivan never fully explained the logic behind his support for Khomeini. [ p 495].
Ps: The Americans say the Revolution began on 8-9-78. The Iranians say the Shah was finished by the end Aug 1978.
Copper in his introduction said he painstakingly created a timeline to determine which narrative is correct. [ p15]. He must have forgotten to answer his poser.