Andrew Scott Cooper

I tend to think of book jackets as the publisher's exaggerations written to build up book sales, but here's a book which hit the mark with its description. It's touted as being "...Brilliantly reported and filled with astonishing details about some of the key figures of the time (early 1970's), and a history of an era that we thought we knew, an era whose momentous reverberations still influence events at home and abroad today", and I couldn't agree more.

It's generally recognized that the U.S. suffers from a conflicted policy, with dependence on Mid-East Oil from Countries which frequently express extreme anti-American, anti-Western policies. The Oil Kings describes the processes and policies which brought us to the current position. The book also provided behind-the-scenes insights into the workings of the White House and Secretary of State during those critical years.

Clearly not the book for you if you're looking for a sweet romantic novel, but excellent for what it was intended to do, i.e., provide an insiders view of the politics and policies of oil producers and oil consumers in the 1970's leading up to the status of oil policy today. Especially interesting were the insights of the powerful Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, Henry Kissinger. Also enjoyed the portrail of the Shah of Iran, and the kind of friend he was (or was NOT) to the United States. It was also very interesting to read about the parallels of the U.S. economy during the mid-1970's compared to the end of the Bush years and beginning of the Obama years. In both times, the banks teetered on collapse, and were criticized for greedy profit-driven motives seeking high profits with little regard for the high-risks of these loans. (Apparently, no lessons learned here). Also similar are the collapse of the housing markets, falling stock market, and high unemployment in both financial hard times. It also seemed like an old story to hear about how the rising oil prices led to imperilled economies in the West, especially in Greece, Spain, Portugal (sound familiar?), etc.

To me, history can be compared to a multi-piece jig-saw puzzle, with each book providing one or two additional pieces of the puzzle. A few pieces may provide a glimpse of the shape or picture of the puzzle, but each new book completes the picture that much more. This book provides more pieces to the puzzle of the U.S. oil policy and the nations involved than expected, and fills in a lot of the blank spaces, especially how Saudi Arabia became our key ally in the region and our preferred provider of Mid-East oil, our role in the fall of the Shah of Iran, and a look at many of the back-room deals made by Nixon & Kissinger in the early 1970's.… (meer)

I won a copy of the Fall of Heaven from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

I'd signed up for a chance to win this book because I was drawn in by the description "An immersive, gripping account of the rise and fall of Iran's glamorous Pahlavi dynasty, written with the cooperation of the late Shah's widow, Empress Farah, Iranian revolutionaries and US officials from the Carter administration." That is what I was looking for when I opened the book.

What I found was a heavily-researched detailed account of the history of Iran, its religions and politics, which seemed to go back as far as prehistoric times. With all the charts and maps, the book seemed more like a PHD dissertation than what I'd expected-a piece of non-fiction for a general audience. Gripping it was not..at least for me.

I was mainly interested in the Shah's personal life- his three marriages, his extravagant lifestyle and philandering ways. And his undying love for his second wife, Soraya, who was 16- half his age, when he married her. He was in tears when he was forced to divorce her because she was unable to bear children. Some of this information is included but hard to find.

I credit the author with writing a well-researched work for history buffs; but I do not recommend this book for a general audience.… (meer)

The Fall of Heaven is a well-researched and in-depth study of Iran in the years leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979. While the focus is on the Pahlavi family and the last Shah of Iran, the author also explores the many complicated political machinations, history, and cultural perspectives that influenced the revolution. Sources for this book range from Pahlavi family members and allies to their political adversaries. Such breadth of sources allows for a very holistic view of events. The failings of the Shah as a leader are explored, while debunking the sensational propaganda instituted by his enemies. This book is appropriate for those with little knowledge of Iranian history and those looking for a deeper exploration of the events that led up to the fall of the Pahlavi regime.… (meer)

Reading this book was heartbreaking, being carried by the author through the modernization of Iran by the Shah Pahlavi, his struggles to balance economic with democratic reforms, the corruption of those in whom he misplaced his trust, and lastly, the country's violent overthrow by a radical madman that had coopted a branch of his nation's faith. Andrew Cooper presents the stories, characters, dispels persistent myths and fables that have surrounded Iran and the origins of its current political iteration.

I recommend this book, despite the chilling reminder that freedoms gained can be quickly reversed, and that there is no inevitable "right" side of history to which time and circumstances are pulled. Things can, and do, go tragically wrong. This is one very good presentation of such series of events.… (meer)