The Shah: A poisonous legacy that haunts Iran

The fate of the last shah of Iran, ousted by a populist uprising in 1979, should have served to warn the leaders of those Arab countries now being swept by the tide of change. Get the scoop on which of the latest titles are worth making part of your personal collection. Like them, the shah paid the price for his extravagance, for his willingness to act as a western puppet and for disregarding the wishes of his people. This fascinating biography by an Iranian-American scholar is also a reminder of the shah's only half-thwarted ambition for Iran to succeed Britain as the Gulf's dominant power - expressed in his support in the Sixties for Yemen's royal family, Iran's decisive injection of men and equipment to end the Dhofar rebellion in Oman and, on the eve of the foundation of the UAE, its seizure of the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, triggering a territorial dispute that rumbles on to this day. For the region and beyond, though, the shah's most poisonous legacy, brought about by his contempt for his own people, was the creation of a regime that continues to destabilise the entire region, while consigning Iran to international outcast status. From / The National