Books like All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer are considered essential reads at the beginning of 2026. With the United States having attacked Iran, it is especially important to have some understanding of the history between these two countries and how that relationship has soured since the 1980s and earlier. To my surprise, All the Shah’s Men focuses on two major turning points in history between Iran, the British, and the United States: the discovery of oil and the former prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. The book’s rapid pace and storytelling give the readers a look into just how close Iran was able to shake off the powers of both the Shah monarchy and the colonial powers of the mighty British as well. They were actually well on the way to establishing a democracy but it all came falling down due to a natural resource the country had an abundance of and that the world just couldn’t get enough of.

What made this episode of world history so critically important is how it introduced the idea to the United States that, due to their fear of Communism taking over the world, staging a coup to remove world leaders in other countries was justified. Not only did Communism play such a big role in world politics of the time, but the story also serves as a quick reminder of how the British were at one point the world superpower and not the United States. Having also read the story about Lumumba and his rise in world politics, it’s even more amazing to have learned how and what the United States did to interfere with Iran prior to these events.

All the Shah’s Men gives us a quick brief of how Iran came to be and how the people lived under the Shah’s monarchy over time. We then witness small rebellious events in the beginning of the 20th century that signaled that times might be changing for the Shah. Once oil was discovered in Iran by the British, everything changed, and it quite literally altered the fate and course of the entire world along with the events that unfolded here. We then learn of Mohammad Mossaddegh and his rise in politics. He deeply cared for the Iranian people and fought extremely hard to give the country a democratic government so that all voices could be heard. But in order to achieve that, he had to fight off the British along with their monopoly and control of Iran’s natural oil resources. By doing so, he set off a chain of events that ultimately reshaped the Middle East. From the Iranian Revolution of 1979 to understanding why the Iranians come to despise Western powers today, especially the United States, all can be traced back to the story of oil.

It’s incredibly eye-opening what happened to Iran. As I finished reading All the Shah’s Men, it had been about exactly two weeks since the United States had launched an air strike at Iran. The strikes have been confirmed to have assassinated Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. For people around the world, gas and oil prices have increased. The Strait of Hormuz is being held hostage. Once again, understanding how the events played out in the past with Mohammad Mossaddegh and the United States/Britain can be extremely helpful in deciphering what is going on today. All the Shah’s Men is a great, quick, and highly encouraged read for the average historical reader.