Shah of Shahs

By Ryszard Kapuscinski

"Insightful and important.... A readable, timely and valuable contribution to the understanding of the revolutionary forces at work in Iran.... The reader almost becomes a participant." —The New York Times Book Review

In Shah of Shahs Kapuscinski brings a mythographer's perspective and a novelist's virtuosity to bear on the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, one of the most infamous of the United States' client-dictators, who resolved to transform his country into "a second America in a generation," only to be toppled virtually overnight.

From his vantage point at the break-up of the old regime, Kapuscinski gives us a compelling history of conspiracy, repression, fanatacism, and revolution.

Translated from the Polish by William R. Brand and Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780804153508

Ryszard Kapuscinski

Ryszard Kapuściński  (Polonia, 1932-2007), Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades, publicó en Anagrama La jungla polaca, Estrellas negras, Cristo con un fusil al hombro, Un día más con vida, El Emperador, La guerra del fútbol, El Sha, El Imperio, Ébano, Los cínicos no sirven para este oficio, Lapidarium IV, El mundo de hoy, Viajes con Heródoto y Encuentro con el Otro. Entre sus nume­rosos galardones figura el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Comunicación y Humanidades, concedido en 2003.

Reviews for Shah of Shahs

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The source material was familiar. Robert Fisk afforded a harrowing account of the SAVAK and their grip on the people of Iran. Kapuściński couches the revolutionary groundwell in almost poetic terms. The Shah's callous myopia is presented with aplomb. This torrent of elements is conveyed within the jagged continuity of its time. And with success, I hasten to add.

[breic-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Kapuscinski gives a lot of atmosphere of Iran leading up to the revolution. I didn't learn much, in the way of facts, but got a feeling of the country through Kapuscinski's quick sketches and anecdotes. Kapuscinski unfortunately likes to digress into light philosophy, for example giving his feelings of why revolutions happen. This is less than convincing, especially when he rather transparently puts it into the words of an Iranian character he is allegedly interviewing. Not a huge fan.

[heggiep · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Insightful and damning, yet slightly nuanced. Surprising, given the descriptions of a people brutalized and numb, that it could have been published in 1982 communist Poland.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The fall of the Shah of Iran. A short book, but punchy and very, very clever.

[untraveller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book! Thought-provoking and memory-inducing!!!

[pessoanongrata · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kapuscinski's books are a genre of their own. Here is a compelling marriage of factual reportage and literary sensibility. The results are astounding and deeply felt. I marvel at how he weaves the histories of Iran into the the tense and violent moments leading up to the revolution. I'm in awe, really. Who else wrote or now writes like this? Who???

[irisiris_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Iran circa 1980, seen from the center of a whirlwind of memories, lies and scraps of paper. Even a novice reader becomes an insider with R. Kapuscinski's guidance

[theonearmedcrab · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With “Shah of Shahs” (1985), Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski paint a poignant portrait of Iranian society in the final years of the Shah, Mohammed Reza, and its dictatorial rule. How army, police and especially the secret service Savak act with impunity, how ordinary Iranians increasingly fear potential informers in their own surroundings, or just random arrest. How oil billions are squandered, on ill-thought through attempts to create the Great Civilization whilst it is mostly foreign companies and the corrupt Iranian elite that benefit. How society is ultimately ready to accept, no, to desperately welcome any kind of revolution, including the one of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.