Bill (College of William and Mary) has produced a comprehensive and eminently readable analysis of the American-Iran connection from its beginning in 1835. It is painfully clear that the factors leading to the hostage crises (in Iran and Lebanon), the Iran-contra affair, and our current state of confused nonrelationship to Iran are labyrinthian. Not since Ervand Abrahamian's Iran Between Two Revolutions ( LJ 7/82) has such a thorough examination been made. Of great value is Bill's list of recommendations for U.S. foreign policy practitioners. This is the book to buy for a definitive analysis of our Iranian adventure and how to avoid its repetition. Strongly recommended for libraries with any collection in this area. David P. Snider, Casa Grande Public Library, Arizona (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
Bill, director of the Center for International Studies at the College of William and Mary, has written the most comprehensive, clarifying and revealing study to date of a foreign-policy failure he calls a ``catastrophe of tremendous proportion.'' Analyzing the gradual turnabout in a relationship once very close but now bitterly estranged, he identifies the U.S.-engineered downfall of Muhammad Musaddiq in 1953 as the point when many Iranians began to perceive America no longer as a friend and protector but as ``an imperialistic, oppressive external force.'' Much of the text concerns American ignorance in action. Readers will also find an in-depth analysis of methods by which private citizensled by the Rockefeller familypromoted their own interests in Iran. Bill draws 12 major foreign-policy lessons at the end, including this one: ``Any unquestioned, dominant policy premise in Washington should be treated with skepticism and subjected to careful and continual questioning.'' Illustrations. History Book Club alternate. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
CHOICE Review
This is a story of an Eagle and a Lion: representative emblems of the US and Iran. The Eagle's beak was brunted and its talons clipped by the Lion when it entered the Lion's den but in the process the Lion's den (the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran) was destroyed. This story of Iran-US relations from 1950 to 1985 is told by James Bill (University of Texas, Austin), a peripheral player in the policy-making apparatuses of the US toward Iran. As a result, Bill is familiar with most of the key players who participated in policy-making during this period, especially since 1970. His account is the most balanced and analytical of the many books that have appeared since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. It is a tale of the destructiveness of blind anticommunism, bureaucratic ineptitude, cultural arrogance, anti-Islamism, pro-Zionist, and pro-Israeli sentiments as well as just plain ignorance. Bill derives 12 policy lessons from the debacle of US foreign policy toward Iran, especially between 1971 and 1979. This book is worthwhile for anyone interested in the Middle East or in the Third World who seeks a careful case study of the challenges the US faces in formulating effective and coherent policies toward the Third World. Recommended for every undergraduate and graduate collection.-R.W. Olson, University of Kentucky
Booklist Review
Depressing but essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand recent American-Iranian relations. Exceptionally well versed in Iran's history and culture, Bill cuts through the tangles of the recent Iran-contra affair to reveal how American officials have allowed commercial and ideological concerns to obscure social and political realities in Iran for more than four decades. From Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, American leaders have consistently misunderstood Iranian interests and alienated a people formerly disposed to think well of Americans. Yet the fault for American mishandling of Iranian affairs lies not only with our chief executives: Bill also indicts a long list of short-sighted politicians, squabbling diplomats, inept bureaucrats, and zealous CIA operatives. Hopes for a quick resolution to America's problems with Iran should be dampened by this analysis of the volatile and complex character of Iranian life. Fitting together a coherent and effective future foreign policy for the region will not be easy, but those who wish to make a start will find some excellent suggestions in the concluding chapter of this timely book. Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. BJC. 327.73'055 U.S.-Foreign relations-Iran / Iran-Foreign relations-U.S.
