[.ca] An Enduring Love: My Life With the Shah-A Memoir (ISBN 1401359612)

No concept of history:
Farah Pahlavi may have love for her husband and her country. Well, that does not make up for everything that her husband was for. He was installed in power instead of Mohammed Mossadegh, a true patriot, to protect the interests of the oil of US and UK. That led to the disastrous consequences. Granted that he gave civil liberties (as long as you do not criticize the monarchy) and there was religious freedom and the government there now is worse than what was there. It depends on the perspective of the person. If you are a common man who has no gripes against the Shah, then you have everything OK. If you are in cahoots with him, then things are great. If you have problems with him, then heaven preserve you. All this is conveniently left out from this book. Anyone can take the life of a person and leave out the relevant portions and make a person look good. There are no details of the misguided life that their family had, including the looting, the torturing of the political prisoners, a small cabal of people having all the wealth and power. When a revolution happens, it does not necessarily produce rosy results. Look at the Russian revolution and its results. The Shah is responsible for the Iranian revolution and the deadly backlash. For all my Iranian friends who feel that we cannot comment on their country and its state, well, they have not yet learnt what freedom of speech is. If they had gone back to the Shah, who knows what would have happened. There is no jealousy in this review. I read enough about Persian history and know that this was the low sink point for Iran. I know that Pahlavis want to come back to power badly. A good start would be to admit the wrongs, but that would never happen would it. Portraying him as Nelson Mandela who was betrayed by all can get the sympathy of a few, well, not all will bite. Unfortunately madam, too many know the history of your family. Better luck next time. I am sorry that she lost her daughter. No parent should go through that, however, it is shameful that she tries to get political milage out of that incident too. Difficult situations produce the best and worst in people, the Pahlavis have not learnt. Her daughter was living an expensive lifestyle. Any other mother would try to analyze the cause for the problem and try to do genuine repair. Look at how Mandela was unable to go to his son's funeral when he was in prison for 20+ years. When he came out, he bore no illwill towards those who incarcerated him. He said, "If I did that, then I will become my own enemy". The change in South Africa happened without the chaos that was seen in Iran. He retired a private person, that is the mark of a great leader. The Pahlavis sent their children to good schools, but I wonder how much they learnt. If they had, they would not repeat the mistakes of the past but carve out a place for themselves. I sincerely hope that Iran goes back to its days of greatness with a happy future for its youngsters, but I am certain of one thing, given the content of this book, it is not under the Pahlavis.

one sided:
The Iran she describes is different than the one my Iranian friends descirbe. For example, Farah talks of building libraries for children. What she does not say, but my friends do, is that the libraries were only for the upper class. Children of the lower class had to work. There was child labor in Iran. And MOST of the population was lower class. Laboring children did not go to school and thus never learned to read. Recently I read the book: MY LAST REMAINS by Jill. It is about what happened to an American child. Toward the end of the book, she goes to Iran. I enjoyed what her comments were.

Provocative:
I loved this book. The review that it mirrors Queen Noor's book is wrong. Both were great books, but very different stories with different styles. The critics should remember that the author is telling the story from her perspective - from her loss, her triumph, and her feelings. She did admit to mistakes and I had the feeling she (and her son) learned from them. When I put the book down, I couldn't go to sleep because I was thinking about this struggle she brought to life in the pages of this book.

Please forgive us!:
On behalf of the Iranian people, I would like to say to the Pahlavis that we are sorry. We messed up! This book is a wonderful depiction of the great services the Shah gave to Iran and they way we, the people of Iran, betrayed him. As the recent events in Iran show, the people of Iran are determined to bring down the brutal Islamic regime and restore dignity and sovereignty to the people. We will get our country back from the facist Islamic dictators!

Graceful, truthful and utterly powerful!:
This is an amazing book, that truly sheds light on the power, grace and profound loss of a woman, not simply an Empress. She does so, with tremendous integrity and honesty. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in true love, history, the drama of life. For thos who have chosend to diminish the Shah and his reign, I have a bit of advice. To the non Persian readers whom have called the Shah a tryannical ruler and a dictator....If he was truly such a man, he would have followed the advise of King Hussein of Jordan and commanded a tank battalion and crushed the protestors. However instead he chose to relinquish his crown so that not a single person sheds their blood. Even his harshest critics will site this mans humanity and grace. The reviews that I have read from outsiders can be best described as a novice chef imparting instructions on how to make a souffle having never made one, and then having the temerity and gall to describe the taste never having eaten one!