Mark Bowden - Guests of the Ayatollah

Takht-e-Jamshid Avenue

Taleghani, Mahmoud

sons of

Taleghani, Mehdi

Taleghani Avenue

“Tank” at Pentagon, chiefs’ meeting in

tap code among hostages

tear gas

Tedford, Terri

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Tehran

Americans visiting

historical changes in

today

Tehran Times

Tehran University

television

hostages on

hostages watching Iranian

television and video cameras in embassy

television coverage of hostage crisis. See also specific topics

Terminal Equipment Replacement (program)

terrorism

terrorists, negotiating vs. refusing to negotiate with

third path, idea of the

Thomas, John

Thomas, Stanley E.

Timm, Barbara

accusations from hostage takers

background

Carl McAfee and

Carter and

hostages’ families and

interviews

rescue mission and

State Department and

in Tehran

visiting Hermening

motivated by opposition

written correspondence with Hermening

Timm, Ken

Tomseth, Victor

accused of knowing about rescue mission

background

Golacinski and

Howland and

on Khomeini

letter to Tehran newspaper

moved to Tehran mansion

release and return home

rescue mission and

“Students Day” demonstration and

television viewing

Torrijos, Omar

“torture”

traffic barred by mob

Trattner, James

travel ban, Carter’s

Trudeau, Garry

Turkey

Turner, Stansfield

Twin Otter

“Two Shirts”

umma

United Nations (UN)

commission to study Iran’s grievances against U.S.

Security Council

United Press International (UPI)

United States

Constitution

fear of and hostility toward Iranians and Iran

Iranian assets in

frozen

Iranian hostility toward

Iranian students in

Iranian views of Americans and. See also Great Satan

Iran’s grievances against. See also Pahlavi, entry to United States

protesters in

punitive options against Iran. See also military options

relations with Iran

war against militant Islam

University of Tehran. See Tehran

University uprisings. See demonstrations

Uttaro, Jerry

Valeriani, Richard

Vance, Cyrus

background

Bani-Sadr and

diplomacy and

Hamilton Jordan and

meetings with families of hostages

rescue mission and

on shah’s leaving U.S.

supported negotiation rather than rescue attempt

Vaught, James B.

vault

hiding in

Iranians’ attempts to enter

whether or not to voluntarily open door

Villalon, Hector

process negotiated by Bourget and

visa applicants

released from embassy

visa applications

visa plates, destruction of

visas of Iranian nationals in U.S., crackdowns on

Wadi Kena, Egypt

Waldheim, Kurt

Wallace, Mike

Walsh, Joan

Walsh, John

Walton, Lyle

War Powers Act

Ward, Phil

warehouse basement. See Mushroom Inn

Washington Post

weapons in embassy

dismantling and disposing of

wedding, Iranian

West German Goethe Institute

WHIO (radio station)

Wiesbaden

Wilcox, Jennifer

Williams, Wesley

Wiznitzer, Louis

women

dress code

released from embassy

role in embassy takeover

women guards. See also specific guards

women hostages. See also specific women

released

writers in Iran

X, Mr.

Yassin, Sheikh Ahmed

Yazdi, Ibrahim

“Year in Captivity, A” (CBS special)

Youth Palace

Yusef

Zeisman, Paul

Zionists

Zumwalt, Elmo Jr.

Zurich, Switzerland

“Suspenseful [and] inspiring.”

“More than twenty-six years later, the siege of the embassy might seem like irrelevant history to those who know little or nothing about it. As talented journalist Mark Bowden shows, the standoff involving fifty-two American hostages is anything but irrelevant.”

“Bleakly compelling…[Bowden] writes about events in a way that gives a clear picture of both high-level decision making and the price paid by people on the ground…. the passions of the moment still reverberate. In Bowden’s book, you can feel them on every page.”

“Mark Bowden is a master storyteller, exceptionally skilled at placing military and political events in a meaningful context. Thus, Guests of the Ayatollah may be his most timely and valuable work to date…. A must read.”

“[A] riveting…masterfully told tale…Bowden skillfully gets inside the minds of the hostages, vividly describing their churning emotions and harrowing experiences. Fans of the author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo will see plenty of classic Bowden here: meticulous reporting backed by a compelling narrative.”

“ Guests of the Ayatollah may be the most revealing book ever written about desperate hostages on the brink.”

“An impressive piece of narrative journalism.”

“A refreshingly lively account…Bowden’s skill turns bad news into good reading.”

“Bowden’s mammoth feat of reportage is essential reading…. Bowden shows unparalleled skill in constructing an omniscient and engrossing narrative based on an almost daily account of the plight of the hostages, behind-the-scenes political machinations, and the planning of a rescue mission. A.”

“Bowden is a courageous and methodical journalist and gifted storyteller…. He weaves a maddeningly complicated heap of recollections, emotions, and facts into a coherent, credible, and engaging account.”

“Mark Bowden is a master of calamity, and he will have readers chewing their nails like teenagers as they read Guests of the Ayatollah …. Yet Bowden does more than spin a good yarn…. He nails the moment at which radical Islamists first learned they could use terror and anti-Americanism to immobilize the West and claim victory over domestic rivals.”

“A prodigious achievement in reporting…Compelling.”

“A very good book…A complex story full of cruelty, heroism, foolishness, and tragic misunderstandings.”

“Readers may wonder why they should read a blow-by-blow account of an event so widely reported so long ago. But as the story unfolds, illuminated by journalist Mark Bowden’s meticulous reporting and measured prose, what seems familiar is suddenly fresh. The significance crystallizes. Uncannily, the events prefigure those of the post-Sept. 11 era: the initial ‘why do they hate us?’ shock; the impotent outrage; the sense that we suddenly faced a baffling and unexpected threat, and that harsh—even reckless—measures were needed to confront it. It was, in retrospect, a defining moment for the United States.”

“Americans are told over and over that 9/11 changed everything and, in important ways, it did. But as Mark Bowden points out in this monumental piece of research, writing, and reasoning, they might give 11/4 some consideration, too. On that date, Nov. 4, 1979, a ragtag band of Iranian militants, most of them students, invaded the sprawling U.S. embassy in downtown Tehran and seized everyone inside as hostages…. Bowden does a prodigious job, telling an important story…and barring the unlikely, nobody will ever tell it better.”