blindmanbaldwin 's review for:

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

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Consequence of adventurism and exploitation echoing across decades. A bunch of Republican Cold Warriors thought they were gods and in their ego they pursued a policy that led to the present moment of instability, chaos, and war. What isn't said in whatever popular knowledge exists of the American involvement in the Iranian coup is that voices — including Truman — knew exactly this would happen, but the conservatives did not care.

Mossadegh dreamed of a free Iran in the spirit of the American myth. Unfortunately for him, as is the case with many "Third World" nationalists, the United States does not believe in their own myth.

Brief and written for a mass audience, "All the Shah's Men" gives enough weight to show the consequences.