Shah of Shahs

Kapuściński's Shah of Shahs is quite unlike any book I have yet read. There is no plot and no subject other than Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the revolution of 1979. What I most appreciated from this was his imagery, his ability to make the photographs he describes come to life which I found especially enticing as a reader. The final third of the book describes how the revolution occurred and themes he saw from it and its aftermath: the implications of crowds, the lostness felt under a new government, the raw vitality felt by a people revived. His words are thorough, eloquent, and fitting to the foreign world he places his reader in. I certainly recommend this as a supplementary read to anything else on the revolution you might show more scour through. show less

I picked this up at the library, having heard good things about Kapuscinski's The Shadow of the Sun, so the author's name caught my eye. This was a series of essays written in Iran during and soon after Iran's Islamic revolution of 1979. I've skirted around Iran in a few of my literary travels (Persepolis, House of Sand and Fog, and one short story in The Boat), and have a child's memory of the revolution being on the news. But this is the first time I've dipped my toe into non-fiction regarding the revolution.

Kapuscinski writes wonderfully. This is no mere reportage of this-happened-then, but is meditations on human nature, on torture and fear, on privilege and power and greed, and even on the nature of revolution itself. I may still show more be fairly shaky on the what-happened-when of the Islamic revolution, but I feel as I was allowed a glimpse into the insanity of revolution. And I'm far less sympathetic towards the Shah than I was previously. Not that I approve of the revolution, either. It all seems one great big disaster that turned into another great big disaster.

Sorry to quote such a large chunk, but this was something that I'd never considered before and I find Kapuscinksi remarkably plausible:

When thinking about the fall of any dictatorship, one should have no illusions that the whole system comes to an end like a bad dream with that fall. The physical existence of the system does indeed cease. But its psychological and social results live on for years, and even survive in the form of subconsciously continued behavior. A dictatorship that destroys the intelligentsia and culture leaves behind itself an empty, sour field on which the tree of thought won't grow quickly. It is not always the best people who emerge from hiding, from the corners and cracks of that farmed-out field, but often those who have proven themselves strongest, not always those who have proven themselves strongest, not always those who will create new values but rather those whose thick skin and internal resilience have ensured their survival.

It's a chilling summary for any traumatised country, trying to throw off the shackles of tyranny: it's not going to be easy, or short-term. (And so many politicians in these days just want short-term solutions to everything.)

This is highly recommended for anyone interested in the modern history of Iran, or in modern history. show less

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.

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.

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???

I liked this book quite a lot, but had to take it down from 4 to 3 stars because it really drags in some parts.

While nominally about the last shah of Iran and the Iranian Revolution, this book is really about the Iranian people. A brilliant work of journalism and observation.