Tony Mendez considers himself an artist and while some of his work hangs in galleries, a majority has helped people escape from potentially fatal situations. Mendez began his work by creating identity papers and documents for the CIA, witnessed first hand a number of Cold War dramas, saw the courage of colleagues, and earned the CIA's Star of Valor when he engineered a plan to free six Americans from Tehran in 1980 with the unlikely ruse of a movie team searching out a location. Mendez's intrigue, disguises, and invention are all dramatically read by Dick Hill. Three tapes released by Listen and Live Audio are mini-memoirs of adventuring . Each set has a variety of four, or five narrators, all of whom are excellent readers.
Variety comes in the stories themselves which portray a wide range of experiences.
Many of the stories will keep you on the edge of your seat. Others will make you marvel and wonder at these crazy fools who risk their lives. Sometimes you even understand why they do these things. The primary consideration in these collections was that they be well-written and that makes for a group of great stories that are accessible to those unfamiliar with extreme living. Maraniss' writing kept me hooked on this tape even through long passages of football plays as I heard the story of Mr. High-Low, a depressed coach who spent endless nights reviewing tapes, planning plays, worrying about his athletes, and unknowingly determining the respect and future of the sport.