The Oil Kings: How the US, Iran and Saudi-Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East

(Paperback, Revised edition)

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Oil Kings offers the first inside look at how an oil crisis was manipulated by Alan Greenspan, Donald Rumsfeld, and President Ford (hoping to secure his re-election), helping to precipitate the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. Andrew Scott Cooper reveals the fatal struggle between the "oil kings", both Middle-Eastern and American, as they jockeyed for power, playing games that led directly to the rise of Iran's radical anti-American theocracy, which still exists today. An intrepid investigative reporter, Andrew Scott Cooper is the first to access newly declassified papers, and to interview key people who formulated US foreign poilicy in that period. Carefully connecting up the dots, he brilliantly reconstructs the history of that vexed decade when the modern world was changed forever.

Reviews

"A revelatory, impressive debut."

"Scintillating diplomatic history Cooper gives us both a vivid study in sycophancy and backstabbing and a shrewd critique of Kissingerian geo-strategy."

Author Bio

Andrew Scott Cooper is a PhD candidate in U.S. foreign policy history with advanced degrees from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and Columbia University in New York. He has worked for nonprofit organizations, among them the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. This is his first book.