INTERVIEW WITH HISTORY

Reviewed 2/28/2002

Interview with History, by Oriana Fallaci

INTERVIEW WITH HISTORY
Oriana Fallaci
John Shepley (transl.)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN 0-395-25223-7 376p. SC $6.95

Rolling Stone called her "the greatest political interviewer of modern times". Even though the "modern times" referred to — the 1970s — have passed, there is truth in that assessment. These interviews stand as pinnacles of their genre, and as important historical documents for us today. Just to read the names of the leaders Ms. Fallaci interviewed is to be given a snapshot of that time when the war in Viet Nam was winding down and the Shah of Iran was about to be overthrown by an Islamic revolution, shifting the world's attention from the far east to the near east.1

The Interviews

Historical Figure Place & Time of Interview
Henry Kissinger Washington, November 1972
Nguyen Van Thieu Saigon, January 1973
General Giap Hanoi, February 1969
Golda Meir Jerusalem, November 1972
Yasir Arafat Amman, March 1972
Hussein of Jordan Amman, April 1972
Indira Gandhi New Delhi, February 1972
Ali Bhutto Karachi, April 1972
Willy Brandt Bonn, September 1973
Pietro Nenni Rome, April 1971
Mohammed Riza Pahlavi Teheran, October 1973
Helder Camara Recife, August 1970
Archbishop Makarios New York, November 1974
Alexandros Panagoulis Athens, September 1973

This roster contains both heroes and villains — and some who, based only on the contents of this book, are not easy to categorize. Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Brazil, is clearly a hero. The Shah of Iran (Mohammed Riza Pahlavi) clearly is not; in fact, I would call him seriously deranged, though not evil.2

Earlier I spoke of a "snapshot" of history. But the interviews provide far more depth. Ms. Fallaci prepared very well for her interviews. They shed light not only on the characters of their subjects, but on the relatively unknown intricacies of their regimes: the personal alliances, conflicts, betrayals, mistakes — the sort of thing that seldom appears in our history books, but which illuminates human worthiness or lack of it. Along with some of those history books, and some volumes of biography, this book is an essential reference for understanding the history of those turbulent times.

I found no curiosities of grammar and only one typographical error3. One thing about the writing struck me as jarring: The preface to the interview with Indira Gandhi seemed not to be Ms. Fallaci's style at all. I put that down to the translation.

Aside from that, the interviews contain some distractions. One is Archbishop Makarios' use of the Greek word "enosis". It was never defined, but its meaning eventually became clear from context. And Nguyen Van Thieu spoke partly in French, partly in English; so his interview is peppered with phrases like "Eh bien" and "Allons donc!" But these do not detract much from the impact of the interviews.

1 My use of these Western-centric terms is not meant to suggest an "America first" attitude.
2 It may or may not be significant that the best-known figures are harder to categorize.
3 Page 263, where she speaks of Pahlavi's "martial" (not marital) crisis with Farah Diba.
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