All the Shah's Men
This is the first full-length account of the CIA's coup d'etat in Iran in 1953--a covert operation whose consequences are still with us today. Written by a noted New York Times journalist, this book is based on documents about the coup (including some lengthy internal CIA reports) that have now been declassified. Stephen Kinzer's compelling narrative is at once a vital piece of history, a cautionary tale, and a real-life espionage thriller.
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7recommend
10mentions
9people
2013–2023years
70% recommend30% neutral
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What Hacker News says
- The book All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer is an excellent narration of the time leading up to the coup, and the coup itself. I think it's fair to say that a lot of our problems with terrorism at the present all stemmed from this coup in Iran in 1953.
- I just finished a great book called "All the Shah's Men" about the history of the Iranian revolution. To have everything that happened in Iran boiled down to "countries invaded by, bombed by or had coups instigated by the USA, since the end of the Korean War" is really a stretch lacking basically all context.
As a casual reader of history I always thought US interference in Iran was a pretty clear cut example of wrong doing but now I'm not so sure.
I can't speak on the other examples in that image but knowing more now about Iran it makes me question the narrative of the nefarious motivations behind US interference.
- A great book on this topic is "All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer.
- For a longer read on the history here, "All the Shah's Men" is a great read.
- Agreed. That said, to give some credit, here are a few I’ve read during the last few years that I can offer as counter examples:
* All the shah’s men, by Stephen Kinzer, about how the 1953 coup against the democratically elected prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh was orchestrated.
* The Idea Factory, by John Gertnee, about the history of Bell Labs
* A mind at play, by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman, about Claude Shannon
* Ike’s bluff, by Evan Thomas, about Dwight Eisenhower
* The Wise Men, by Walter Isacsson and Evan Thomas, about diplomats during the Truman administration
I tend to be more skeptical about books written by journalists that relate to some specific topic rather than historical narrative. Additionally, I tend to read the historical narratives with more skepticism than I do when I read history books written by professional historians.
- "All The Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer is a damn good read if you're interested in the events of 1953 and the 1979 revolution:
