Patriot of Persia

[It] is about a wildly popular figure who promised Iran’s future would not be dependent on paying homage to the west: Mohammed Mossadegh, who was brutally removed from power in a coup orchestrated by the CIA in 1953. De Bellaigue is an outstanding journalist and you can tell why – Peter Frankopan * History Today *
Compelling – Max Hastings * Sunday Times *
Excellent – Charles Glass * Spectator *
A rich and timely immersion – David Gardner * Financial Times *
De Bellaigue’s book is unsurpassed as a rounded portrait of Mossadegh * Times Literary Supplement *
De Bellaigue portrays some fascinating, and often farcical, stories of political life in Iran * Independent *
The author shows his intimate understanding and knowledge of of Middle Eastern politics… A timely warning of the consequences of Western intervention * Big Issue in the North *
A vivid, informed portrait of Iran’s liberal, nationalist, eccentric prime minister… it illuminates a complex country and its distrust in the West – Holly Kyte * Sunday Telegraph (Seven) *

Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House- The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous books, including The Islamic Enlightenment, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017. As a reporter he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.

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