In 1911, an ambitious American was invited by a budding Iranian democracy to bring financial stability to the country. He went with the blessing of the British and Russian governments, both of which enjoyed a wide sphere of influence in the region. However, he had far more success in helping to make Iran a credible democracy than anyone had expected, and he was subsequently ousted by those same governments. After he was forced to return to the US, Shuster wrote a book revealing the true motives of the superpowers of the time and how the region's course of history was forever altered.