Synopsis
This is an true life account of the situation of Iran after the 1953 overthrow of Iran's democracy by Richard Helms and Kermit Roosevelt in 1953 to get the right for American and British oil and Shell to exploit Iran's oil. James is the central character of the historical novel, went to Iran in 1988 and worked in Khuzestan just 15 miles from the Iraq border where there had been an overthrow of the monarchy by Iraq's military and the Communists in Iraq went on a binge of cutting off the heads of foreigners staying in Bagdad hotels and hanging their naked bodies from lamp posts. This was to frighten the military to leave the Communists alone. It was James' friend, Cryus Zafar, who got him a job with a British company, John Bean, and in Khuzestan he works with a British Surveryor, Dickie Swells. He takes off for Christmas in Germany to see a beautiful German girl, Renata, who he met on the boat going from New York to France. Coming back to his job, Dickie has replaced him with another surveyor but is hired by the American company that had sublet part of their contract to John Bean. They had hired an Italian engineer who had been working in Bagdad and ran away to Iran to escape the murdering Communists of Iraq. The author did two engineering studies to save one million in construction costs but as he wasn't an engineer, the top engineer puts his name on the report and uses the calculations and map work done by the author. As the project closes down, he heads for Tehran to see what Cyrus Zafar can do. It so happens that his brother, Reza, working in highway construction is forming his own company and it takes off after the first contract to become the largest construction company in Iran. Cyrus, however, is offered a post in the Iranian Embassy in Pakistan and this is the start of his diplomatic career that he has always wanted. So there is a separation again. But on a break in highway construction, he takes off for Pakistan to see Cyrus and is introduced to Abdullah of Yemen, Prince Arif, and Zarin Khan who Cyrus' wife knew in London. He is smitten by her intelligence and as she works with Pakistan's airlines and comes to Tehran on various flights, he give her his telephone and hopes to meet her soon in Tehran. Six months later, she calls and after many months of her trips to Tehran, he proposes marriage and for the first time in his life, James is deeply in love. Good things do not last and in her pregnancy, Zarin contracts leukemia but a beautiful little girl, Fawzia, is born. She is named after the beautiful Princess Fawzia of Egypt who was the first wife of the Young Shah. Hopefully a cure for leukemia to save Zarin will come but it didn't. James agrees to let Zarin's grandfather Shirali, take Fawzia to Pakistan to be reared among Zarin's brothers and sisters. His grief was beyond description as he lost both loves of his life.Plunging into work, James tries to renew his life and gets an invitation from Abdullah to go to Mecca where says prayers for Zarin. Cyrus asks Reza to find land in Golhak and build a villa for him and after his assignment in Pakistan is finished, James is invited to a dinner in the newly built villa where he meets Ming Toy, a friend of Cyrus's wife, Roxanne. There they learn about Nixon's plan to build Iran into a base for America and recognize Beijing as China in the UN. As Iran becomes the third most powerful military the rise in the price of oil has led to a glut in the market and the CIA pushes the Shah to cut production to keep the price of oil up. He replies that he needs to keep money coming in to make economic development as the situation is becoming dangerous. The Shah is ill with leukemia. The queen has him treated by French doctors to keep his condition secret. Imam Khomeni was made an Ayatollah to protect him but lacked the real knowledge of Islam to be one.. The Shah abdicates and Khomeni arrives in Iran and the Mossad and CIA start the chaos
About the Author
The author used his experiences in Iran and his friendships with many in Iran and the Middle East to compose this work he finished in 1994. Since then he has added more information and as one reader commented, "It is like an encyclopedia. Every time I read it I get a different viewpoint." Another reader said, "It left me with thirsting for more." There are tears and laughter throughout the book. But more to the point, how did the author come to write such a book? The author was born on a dairy farm in Central Illinois during the Great Depression. Farmers lost their land and houses to banks and insurance companies that had made loans to farmers who lost their farms through foreclosure. Was President Hoover responsible for the Great Depression? Of course not. That comes with another book. But it was after his military service and he returned to his university that he met his best friend, who he names Cyrus in the story. That has changed his life completely to where the author has traveled extensively in 50 countries mostly at a time when travel was much less expensive than it is today. He has lived in ten countries from Honduras to China, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Germany, France, and more. He wanted to see what the people got the most out of life to enjoy - food, music, leisure, creativity, and what were the problems they encountered and how were they handled. In Latin America he saw dissatisfaction of the inequities, corruption, and repression. In former colonies of Britain there were lessons to be learned when they came to govern themselves. But for countries like Iran, Turkey, and Brazil, they had independence to do as they pleased in 1930's and this played a tremendous role in international politics that people in America had no idea about. It was a world that saw Empires break up much after WW II ended. And there was very revealing evidence that the news media has become the educator of the world's people. What people know about the people of the other countries is little to nothing. So he began to write.
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