Effigies of Uncle Sam burning on a bonfire; U.S. diplomats led blindfolded before a screaming mob; the bodies of American soldiers strewn in the desert amid the wreckage of helicopters. These are only some of the images American associate with the U.S. experience in Iran - and all this occurred before Irangate. Every time we think we have heard the last of that nightmare it comes back again with devastating force. Nest of Spies charts the route that, over some four decades, has taken the United States to Irangate and beyond. In this clear and well-documented book, Iranian journalist Amir Taheri shows why Roosevelt and Truman failed to turn Iran into a model democracy, how the seeds of the Islamic revolution were, unwittingly, sown by the Shah's policies (largely with Washington's support), and how the Irangate episode and its consequences fit in the patter of U.S. - Middle East relations. Nest of Spies treats many aspects of Irangate not revealed in American investigations and provides the first full account of many other U.S. covert operations in Iran between 1979and 1987. Taheri has also analyzed the mass of documents seized at the U.S. embassy in Teheran and conducted more than 150 interviews with political and business officials from both countries. The result is a book that is more complete, coherent, and evenhanded than any yet published on this complex and emotional subject. Amir Taheri was the editor-in-chief of "Kayhan", Iran's largest daily newspaper, between 1973 and 1979. Since leaving Iran, he has written for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the Sunday Times of London, and many more. His is also the author of several books including "The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution" and "Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism".