Stephen Kinzer

Author & journalist. Former NY Times foreign correspondent. Boston Globe columnist. Senior Fellow @WatsonInstitute for Intl. and Public Affairs @Brownuniversity

[Natalia Sancha @NataliaSancha]

Entrevisto al periodista e historiador @stephenkinzer (y autor de una lectura obligatoria para entender Irán: Todos los hombres del Shah): “Cualquier Gobierno que llegue al poder en Irán respaldado por Estados Unidos no tendrá legitimidad” https://t.co/o7Tc1BU8FZ via @el_pais

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

@alexbward Always chokes me up—written by Lincoln’s secretary John Hay.

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/l9VP339q50📷

Stephen Kinzer, historian, argues that everything that has happened in the Islamic Republic in recent decades stems from the coup that Washington backed in 1953 against a democratically elected government

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[Bayraq Faisal Ghazi @BayraqFaisal]

One of the Most Fearless and Independent Minds in American Journalism @stephenkinzer on Cross Lines:

"Many journalists have become stenographers, merely repeating what the government says. The true role of the press is to be independent critics of power."

A masterclass on the media's real responsibility

#Iraq #Baghdad #USA #Press #CrossLines

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

I was interviewed on Iraqi TV and even described by the host in Baghdad as “the foremost historian of American regime change.”

https://t.co/3rOAaT8iGP

[Dr. Brian H. Williams @DrBrianWilliams]

Most trauma surgeons associate splenectomies with blunt trauma. I associate them with geopolitics. Years ago, I read @stephenkinzer’s “All the Shah’s Men”, where I learned about the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup that overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister. 🧵

[Ghost of Oklahoma @MBSepulveda]

@Gottemoeller Nah, I'll wait for this book coming out in October from @stephenkinzer https://t.co/MKrgWyXadu

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

My column:

https://t.co/Z0Ed2QwSL4

Drones are blowing up old assumptions about US foreign policy

America will find it harder to win arguments with military might alone.

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[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

As self-appointed custodian of Boston’s only #Shakespeare monument, I gave him his annual birthday cleaning.

[Background Briefing w/ Ian Masters @ianmastersmedia]

The CIA’s legacy of blowback, where, if not for their 1953 coup, Iran would likely be a thriving, secular democratic state today. Featuring @stephenkinzer, award-winning foreign correspondent.

https://t.co/Id1LSCZGyQ

[Coup 53 @Coup53]

#Iran #IranWar‌ @stephenkinzer @tparsi @AssalRad @viraameli @sanambna @Watson_School @SangitaMyska @TEDFellow @DrSakriKaia @Adamitv @Joyce_Karam @peterson__scott @laemmle @greglaemmle @roxietheater

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/YOwcQB5Q5j

My @GlobeIdeas column:
Where have you gone, Tulsi Gabbard? When you ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, I voted for you because you campaigned so forcefully against “regime change wars.”
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[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

@OldSchoolBoston @mitlibraries Later became Ciro & Sal’s.

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/B7VpjNjZtQ

I sat for an hour-long session with our Brown University world affairs podcast.

[Noor Kamaran @NoorKamaranomer]

While reading several works on Iran’s political structure, I came across a short but insightful article from 1997 by @stephenkinzer who at the time was the Istanbul bureau chief of the New York Times and had been invited to Iran to cover the country’s presidential elections. His description of Iran captured a fundamental tension that still defines the country today:

“Iran is a large and very proud country, acutely conscious of its rich heritage and unwilling to accept dictates from any outside power.

It is also insecure and confused, its people deeply divided over what kind of society they want at home and what role they should play in the world.

Iran may emerge from this conundrum as an outlaw nation, one that thumbs its nose at the world and pushes toward dangerous confrontations with other powerful states and groups of states. It also, however, can become an example of democracy and stability in a region that has known precious little of either.

It is this dichotomy, this contradiction, this remarkable potential to shape the Middle East and the wider world for better or worse, that makes Iran as important as it is fascinating.”

My reflection? Nearly three decades later, Iran still lives inside this contradiction as a nation torn between opening to the world and confronting it.

[𝘼𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙥 𝘼𝙞𝙧 🛫 @AncapAir]

From the preface of the 2008 edition of the book...

Literally everyone needs to read it. And if you have read it like me, reread it! @stephenkinzer knew what he was talking about.

[Robert Jon Voss @RobertJonVoss]

Currently Reading:
‘All the Shah’s Men’ by @stephenkinzer

#IranWar

[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/47fIgomqpc

By attacking Iran, the United States has launched a war of choice based on false pretenses.

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[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/kZaO4z3ef2

Costa Rica’s exceptionalism is fading

The country’s politics are beginning to resemble those of its troubled neighbors.

By Stephen Kinzer – Boston Globe - February 24, 2026

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[Stephen Kinzer @stephenkinzer]

https://t.co/YfEzF31RX8