A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • From the
author of the landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory narrative
history of the Iranian Revolution one of the most momentous events in modern times. This
groundbreaking work exposes the jaw-dropping stupidity of the American government and traces
the rise of religious nationalism offering essential insights into today's global unrest. “A
masterful and propulsive account that chronicles a devastatingly transformative series of
events whose aftereffects reverberate to this day.” —The Kirkus Prize 2025 Jury “An
exceptional and important book. Scrupulous and enterprising reporting rarely combine with such
superb storytelling.” — The New York Times Book Review “A masterful and gripping account.
Anderson gives us a page-turning history lesson that is more relevant than ever.” —Rajiv
Chandrasekaran author Imperial Life in the Emerald City a finalist for the National Book
Award On New Year’s Eve 1977 on a state visit to Iran President Jimmy Carter toasted Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi King of Kings Light of the Aryans Shadow of God on Earth praising
Iran as “an island of stability “ due to “your leadership and the respect and admiration and
love which your people give to you.” Iran had the world’s fifth largest army and was awash in
billions of dollars in oil revenues. Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its booming
capital Tehran. The regime’s feared secret police force SAVAK had crushed communist
opposition and the Shah had bought off the conservative Muslim clergy inside the country. He
seemed invulnerable and invaluable to the United States as an ally in the Cold War. Fourteen
months later the Shah fled Iran into exile forced from the throne by a volcanic religious
revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. The ensuing hostage crisis forever
damaged America’s standing in the world. How could the United States which had one of the
largest CIA stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran have been so
blind? The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator blind to the disdain
of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. Scott Anderson tells this
astonishing tale with the narrative brio mordant wit and keen analysis that made his
bestselling Lawrence of Arabia one of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East.
The Iranian Revolution Anderson convincingly argues was as world-shattering an event as the
French and Russian revolutions. In the Middle East in India in Southeast Asia in Europe
and now in the United States the hatred of economically-marginalized religiously-fervent
masses for a wealthy secular elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the
template. King of Kings is a bravura work of history and a warning.
