| INTERVIEW WITH HISTORY Oriana Fallaci John Shepley (transl.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
|||
| ISBN-13 978-0-395-25223-9 | ||||
| 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 These interviews stand as pinnacles of their genre, and as important historical documents for us today.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
| 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.
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.