In Kate Millet's Going To Iran, if I remember correctly, she describes that period in Iran quite differently. Apparently it was the secular middle class, and especially the women who organized to bring down the Shah. Then once he was gone, they were completely betrayed, and put out of jobs and behind the veil.
She describes press conferences where the women are trying to communicate the clerical threat that is forming and overwhelming the situation, but the press just wants to talk about Millet. The real dirty work is done by poor, and ignorant men, who attack the women, and get bolder as events evolve.
It's a very sad, frustrateing account of what she saw while there, right after the Shah's overthrough.
Naturally, I always thought the US had something to do with it, or at the very least made a decision to let it happen. At least sometimes. Iran would have been quite a power had a democratic faction taken over. It could happen!
YES, CHILD. CONSPIRACY THEORIES REALLY DO COME TRUE. (tuck, tuck)