SpyTalk

SpyTalk

Your Weekend Listen: An Astounding Account of a Revolution Still Plaguing Us

Scott Anderson’s “King of Kings” is a hair raising story of how feckless US officials helped usher in the virulent Iranian revolution

Jeff Stein's avatar
Jeff Stein
Sep 05, 2025
∙ Paid
26
3
4
Share

WHO KNEW? Not the CIA, evidently, or most of the American diplomats, military officers and U.S. weapons salesmen luxuriating in late-royal Tehran, as an Islamic revolution bubbled in the souks. Even as the end appeared near in 1979, the Americans were in a perpetual state of disbelief that “the slight, pompous, pathetically dithering Shah of Shahs, or K…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to SpyTalk to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Jeff Stein
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture