The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations

In August 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's democratically elected leader and installed Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in his place. When the 1979 Iranian Revolution deposed the shah and replaced his government with a radical Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the shift reverberated throughout the Middle East and the world, casting a long shadow over United States-Iran relations that extends to the present day. Ervand Abrahamian's history of the coup and its aftermath draws from previously closed archives of British Petroleum, the Foreign Office, and the US State Department, as well as Iranian memoirs and published interviews. The book uncovers little-known documents that challenge conventional interpretations and shed light on how the American role in the coup influenced diplomatic relations between the two countries, past and present. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title.