Escaping Iran
Subtitle: a True Account of the Best Bad Idea
By: Mark Lijek
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Deeds Publishing
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Marietta, GA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 344
ISBN-13: 9781941165072
Subjects: Personal narratives; Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981
Description: "Escaping Iran is a first-person account of a daring CIA operation to extricate six American diplomats caught up in the 1979 Iranian revolution. With their comrades held hostage at the embassy compound, the author and five others managed to slip away and find refuge with the staff of the Canadian embassy, where they became known in communications with Ottawa and Washington as the houseguests. The Hollywood-based escape plan, the CIA's best bad idea, has become famous as the subject of the 2013 Oscar best picture Argo. The author provides an insider's perspective on the true details of the plan, but also focuses critical attention on the courage, ingenuity, and genuine hospitality of the Canadians. In addition to hiding them for three months, the Canadians provided the all-important Canadian passports, and ultimately made the rescue possible. The book summarizes the background to the attack on the US embassy, providing an up-close description of life in revolutionary Iran prior to the takeover. It discusses the errors and misjudgments that led to the crisis, as well as the aspects of the history of US-Iran relations that served to make the US the "great Satan" in the eyes of many Iranians. This is a thoroughly revised and expanded version of the author's previous book, The Houseguests, containing much new information."--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-307) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I: How to Lose an Embassy But Find True Friends; title: Part II: Home, Sweet Hideout or Hello to Hollywood; title: Part III: Fleeting Fame and A Touch of Forture; title: Part IV: Dancing toward Destruction.