In this remarkably human portrait of one of the twentieth century's most complicated personalities Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Andrew Scott Cooper traces the Shah's life from childhood through his ascension to the throne in 1941 He draws the turbulence of the post-war era during which the Shah survived assassination attempts & coup plots to build a modern pro-Western state & launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers Readers get the story of the Shah's political career alongside the story of his courtship & marriage to Farah Diba who became a power in her own right the beloved family they created & an exclusive look at life inside the palace during the lranian Revolution Cooper's investigative account ultimately delivers the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty through the eyes of those who were there leading lranian revolutionaries; President Jimmy Carter & White House officials; US Ambassador William Sullivan & his staff in the American embassy in Tehran; American families caught up in the drama; even Empress Farah herself & the rest of the lranian imperial family Intimate & sweeping at once The Fall of Heaven recreates in stunning detail the dramatic & final days of one of the world's most legendary ruling families the unseating of which helped set the stage for the current state of the Middle East