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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. For decades, Iran has been a major preoccupation of U.S. policymakers,

for its nuclear program, its threats to Israel, and its backing of armed extremist groups in the

Middle East. But go back a half a century, and Iran was a very different place. Our guest today,

journalist Scott Anderson, has taken a close look at the Iranian

Revolution of 1979, the violent upheaval that transformed the country from one of America's

closest allies into the Islamic Republic that regards the United States as the great Satan.

Before that, the country was governed by the Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza-Palavi, a monarch who ruled with political repression while seeking to modernize his nation's economy and social relations.

In a new book, Anderson writes that the Iranian revolution had far-reaching effects, contributing to the rise of Islamic extremism.

He says it marked the modern world's first successful religious counter-revolution against the forces of secularism and was in some

ways as significant as the American, French, and Russian revolutions. His gripping account of the

conflict suggests that the outcome was far from inevitable, and that

many factors, including the Shah's personal failings and the inattention and poor decisions of

American policymakers contributed to the victory of Ayatollah Khomeini. Scott Anderson is a veteran

war correspondent who's reported from Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Sudan, Bosnia, and other countries.

He's the author of seven previous books. His latest is King of Kings, the Iranian Revolution, a story of hubris, delusion, and catastrophic miscalculation.

I spoke to Scott Anderson last week. Well, Scott Anderson, welcome back to

fresh air. Thank you, Dave. It's good to be back. I have to congratulate you on this book. It

really is just a terrific gripping read. There is so much fascinating detail here. And I just want to

let the audience know. There's more than we can get to, but there's plenty there. You know a lot

about the Middle East.

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