Understanding US initiatives in Iran from 1941 to 1953 provides insight into much broader areas of American foreign policy: the tension between military and political strategists during World War II, relations with the Soviet Union and Great Britain, the formulation of postwar national security policies, the continuities and discontinuities of diplomacy in three successive presidential administrations, the development of foreign aid and technical assistance programs, efforts to define an international oil policy, and above all, the origins of the Cold War.

Increased spcialization has often lead historians to study these topics in isolation from each other. Mark Lytle, however, weaves together the individual strands of analysis to offer animmensely readable and highly informative study of the background of the Iranian-American conflict.

Beginning with a discussion of the circumstances that led to the US-Iranian involvements, Lytle introduces the major players in the drama: the Russian, British, German, and American policymakers and the businessmen competing for oil interests in an economically impoverished but petroleum-rich nation. His chronological analysis details the evolution of US policy in the region and shows why the alliance went sour and how our relations with Iran can serve as a microcosm of US interaction with other Third World Nations.