Since the downfall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1979, a substantial body of literature has sought to explain the causes and dynamics of his demise. Yet, a striking proportion of these works have been authored by individuals who have neither resided in Iran—particularly after 1979—nor possess an adequate command of the Persian language, history and culture and who lacked any personal acquaintance with the Shah himself. While such detachment might be expected of non-Iranian commentators, it is noteworthy that a considerable number of scholars—both Iranian and foreign—fall into the same category. Despite their distance from the events they analyze, they have produced numerous books and essays claiming to uncover the “true” origins of the Pahlavi regime’s collapse.

Among these authors are academics, journalists, and political analysts whose works rely largely on secondary sources, hearsay, or the prevailing ideological frameworks of their times. Their interpretations, though often informative and occasionally insightful, tend to represent reconstructions from afar rather than the testimony of direct participants. The result has been a historiography that frequently privileges abstraction over experience.

The present volume, by contrast, belongs to a different order of testimony. It is written by one who stood closer to the Shah, who witnessed from within the transformations of his reign, and who, on numerous occasions, sought to warn him of the possible consequences of certain policies and decisions. It is in this respect that these memoirs differ markedly from the majority of extant accounts. They offer a firsthand, candid, and often disquieting narrative that illuminates the internal dynamics of the Pahlavi court, providing a rare perspective on the deeper forces that precipitated the monarchy’s demise.

The author of these memoirs, Ali Dashti (1896–1982), was among the most distinguished figures in modern Iranian intellectual and political life—a journalist, novelist, essayist, and parliamentarian whose voice combined literary elegance with a spirit of fearless independence. His writings traverse the fields of literary criticism, historical reflection, and philosophical inquiry, marked throughout by a commitment to rational discourse and intellectual integrity.

During the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1925–1941), Dashti was imprisoned for his outspoken criticism of the regime. While in confinement, he composed Prison Days (Ayyām-e Mahbas)[1], a reflective and incisive account of his experiences that explores the moral dimensions of power, justice, and human conscience. In later years, under Mohammad Reza Shah, Dashti served as a senator and as ambassador to Egypt and Lebanon, yet he continued to express independent and often dissenting views—an attitude that earned him both admiration and enmity in equal measure.

Following the 1979 Revolution, Dashti became a target of severe persecution. One of the principal causes of his arrest was his authorship of 23 Years[2], a critical study of the life of the Prophet Mohammad[3], which provoked the anger of the new authorities. He was imprisoned twice, each time for several months, and subjected to physical abuse and torture. Reports suggest that he suffered a fractured pelvis as a result of repeated beatings. Due to his advanced age and deteriorating health, he was eventually transferred to Jam Hospital in Tehran, where he remained under the constant watch of Revolutionary Guards until his death. Dashti died in 1982, in pain and isolation, the victim of a slow martyrdom inflicted for his intellectual independence—a tragic and ignominious end for one of Iran’s most erudite and principled minds.

Dashti’s life and writings span some of the most turbulent decades of Iran’s modern history. His memoirs occupy a distinctive place within the broader historiography of the Pahlavi era. Unlike retrospective analyses shaped by ideological or partisan agendas, his reflections unite political experience with moral inquiry and literary refinement. They resist simplistic explanations of the Shah’s dwonfall, instead inviting readers to consider the complex interplay of modernization, autocracy, and dissent that defined Iran in the twentieth century.

As such, this work stands as both a historical document and a testament to the courage of an independent intellect in an age of conformity.

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 [1] Dashti, Ali, Ayyām-e Mahbas in J. E. Knörzer, Ali Dashti’s Prison Days:Life Under Reza Shah. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers in Association with Bibliotheca Persica, 1994.

 [2] Dashti, Ali. 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad. Translated from the Persian by F. R. C. Bagley. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1994.

 [3] In the opening chapter of this work, Dashti pointedly describes Mohammad as a “champion” (ghahramān) rather than as a prophet, a distinction that reflects his humanistic approach to history and religious belief.