Customer Reviews

The Shah's Last Ride: The Fate of an Ally

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William Shawcross is a good reporter. But in this biography he faced one problem: he knew his subject only from a distance.
His account of the Shah's illness and his final agonies is excellent because it is based on extensive interviews with the doctors who treated the exiled king.
The rest of the book, however,suffers from insufficient research and analysis.
Many of the Iranians interviewed by Shawcross told him either what he wanted to hear or what they wanted him to hear. He had no means of checking their claims by cross-examining other witnesses and/or digging into Iranian archives.(Obviously closed to him).
Read this book as a medical account of the Shah's final days. ( You learn a great deal about the type of cancer that finally killed the Shah!) But for a deeper analysis of the Shah's politics, and some speculation about his eventual place in history, go to Marvin Zonis's " Majestic Failure."
And if you want a critical, and at the same time sympathetic, Iranian view go to Amir Taheri's " The Unknown Life of the Shah" which reads like a modern version of a Greek tragedy.
I also recommend the Shah's own " Answer to History" which, although self-serving and at times annoyingly dishonest,neverthelkess , provides much insight into the soul of that complex and misunderstood man.
AN IRANIAN READER

I read this good book, here in Brazil.
But, please be care to not to have a deception, with this book. Never buy this book to really read, about the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Please, this book is more than 85% about the Shah's life after he left Iran and power on January, 1979. Yes, there's the chapters 2, 9, 10 and 11 that are mainly about Iran before the Shah's fall. Chapter 11, I thought as the best in all this book. The four best pages of his book are pages telling about the Shah's death in Egypt. He died with his family.
Seven great things of this book:
1- This book is really unbiased. It tells about what happened with the Shah, after he left the power and Iran.
2- This book really tells how small number were the real Shah's friends.
3- The Shah's defects, including his corruption and being a womanizer, before he left the power is really described.
4- Defects and crimes of Shah's family are described. His twin sister, former princess Ashraf is described how she made bad and good things. The Shah's last wife, the Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi (born Farah Diba) is described into good words, about that woman and last Shahbanu of the world. Shahbanu is the wife of Shah. The Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi seems to be the only good person circling the Shah. The rest of Shah's family was terrible.
5- This book tells how shunned became the Shah, after he fall from power.
6- Even being writen on 1988, this book isn't outdated about the Shah's end.
7- The epilogue of this book shows clearly that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution was doing in Iran, when this good book was published, in 1988.

Problems of this book are these:
1- This book isn't linear, except on its last half.
2- I wanted more information about the six months before the fall of the Shah.

This book is superb, It tells the good the bad and the ugly in a fair unbaised manner which is rare for books on Iran. This book gives excellent insight onto one of history's most misunderstood figures, The Late Shah of Iran. Interviews with all the major players in the last days of The Peacock Throne. One disapointment Shawcross does not really delve very solidly into the Mossadegh era and the Shah & the CIA's role in helping the Iranian Air Force restore him to the throne. All in All, if you are a interested in the life and death of the Pahlavi Dynasty and want a fair and unbiased autopsy then this is your book

I HAVE READ MANY BOOKS ON THE PAHLAVI DYNASTY. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW THAT IS EXTREMELY ACCURATE. IT IS VERY INSIGHTFUL, AND HAS SO MUCH INFORMATION. A MUST READ, BUT HARD TO FIND BOOK.