"Twenty-two years after Ayatollah Khomeini's ascent to power in Iran, many aspects of his 1979 Islamic revolution remain obscure - if not baffling. Scholars and experts in the West have offered the usual explanations for the Islamic revolution: corruption, deepening gaps between the rich and the poor, rapid industrialization, skyrocketing inflation, westernizing policies that offended traditions, lack of democratic institutions, authoritarian rule, and on and on.

But such characteristics, which exist in other Muslim countries - especially in the Arab world - fail to clarify the particularities of the Iranian revolution.".

"This book offers an original explanation of the events that led to the fall of the Shah and the ascent of Khomeini, which dramatically altered the political and diplomatic situation in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea region. Hoveyda's account will be of great interest to scholars, students, researchers, and foreign policy makers involved with the Middle East and Islamic fundamentalism."--BOOK JACKET.