William Morgan Shuster III (February 23, 1877 – May 26, 1960), was an American lawyer, civil servant, and publisher, who is best known as the Treasurer-General of Persia by appointment of the Iranian parliament, or Majles, from May to December 1911.

[1] His paternal grandfather, William Morgan Shuster, owned a dry goods store on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

The movement forced Mozaffar ad-Din Shah to agree to the election of the first Majlis, the opening up of a relatively free press, and a number of other reforms.

Persia was on shaky financial footing at the time due to heavy debts accumulated by the Qajars, the Persian royal family, to Great Britain and Imperial Russia.

The hiring of Shuster and his American associates as financial advisors concerned the imperial powers, who sought to keep Persia from independent influences and dampen national feeling.

[7] Under Russian and British diplomatic pressure, the vice-regent of Persia expelled Shuster from office in December 1911 against the will of the Persian parliament.

Shortly after his arrival the Russian government demanded his expulsion, and when the Majlis refused to do so, Russia occupied northern parts of Iran.

The book was subtitled, the story of the European diplomacy and oriental intrigue that resulted in the denationalization of twelve million Mohammedans, a personal narrative.

[9] Chapter XLV, XLVI and XLVII of the historical fiction novel Samarkand, written by French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, revolve around Shuster and the Constitutional Revolution of Iran.