44 days

"It begins like a Graham Greene novel, Christmas 1978, with a correspondent aboard a plane landing in an ominously empty city ripped by sudden violence. On one side, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the West-leading but authoritarian and unpopular ruler of Iran; on the other, a coalition of angry opposition interests from secular leftists to ultra-conservative mullahs, all haunted by SAVAK, the feared and hated secret police. The shah's repressive policies are common knowledge, but his regime's instability and the swiftness of his eclipse will take the world by surprise, sending reporters and news crews scattering for safety." "Legendary photojournalist David Burnett was there for it all - and this is his unique eyewitness account of those six pivotal weeks. 44 headlong days that stunned the world and shaped the modern Middle East in a seismic shift whose aftershocks are still being felt. At a time when Westerners fled, Burnett remained to record the breathtaking sudden end of the shah's rule and the chaotic political scramble that ended in the triumph of the ayatollahs and the birth of the Islamic republic. As the shah's arrogant visage gave way to the indelible image of an ascetic old cleric named Khomeini, Burnett reported in real time from inside Iran." "Burnett delivers new perspectives: Iranian rioters amid blazing cars: politicians and power brokers in Savile Row suits: the vanishing tail of the airliner carrying the shah to exile and death: and the sea of Shiite worshipers welcoming the ayatollah's triumphant return."--Jacket.