The book moves effortlessly between relevant parts of Iran's imperial history, Mossadegh's life, and the turmoil that engulfed Iran in the early 1950s. It examines the events leading up to Mossadegh's rise to the top, his move to nationalize Iran's British-controlled oil industry, and the subsequent decision of the British and then American governments to depose him. There is also a section at the end covering Mossadegh's legacy, and how this affected the Shah and Islamic Revolution.

Although the book does contain some annoying essentializations about how Shiites have a martyrdom complex and are prepared to undergo almost infinite suffering towards this end (where is Edward Said when you need him?), it is a reasonably impartial account of intransigence on the part of both the British and Iranian governments, and how the British used the omnipresent threat of communism to convince the Eisenhower Administration that Mossadegh had to go. Definitely worth reading for anyone who wants to find out why Iranians first became hostile towards America.