Mark Bowden - Guests of the Ayatollah

“Daring and masterful…Bowden has accomplished a monumental task. [A] masterpiece.”

“Bowden’s account excels at describing the unfolding drama of the individual hostages…. This is a powerful and probably definitive history that deserves a large audience.”

“Riveting drama and telling detail…[ Guests of the Ayatollah ] is a masterful account that includes its share of revelations, but never veers far from the intensely personal stories that took place behind the scenes…. Seems destined for lofty residence on the summer’s best-seller lists, further cementing Bowden’s reputation as one of America’s finest print journalists.”

“This is history as tragedy, written as a thriller by a master storyteller.”

“A riveting account…Bowden’s latest will tempt readers to keep turning the pages.

“Written like a novel and shot through with page-turning suspense…The amount of research and reporting that must have gone into it are awe-inspiring.”

“A good and important book.”

“Bowden mixed his newspaperman’s skills…with his gift for novel-like narrative. The resulting story is not only suspenseful but revelatory as well.”

“Investigative journalist and author Mark Bowden knows how to write books that strike a chord with modern readers. His latest may be his finest work yet.”

“Bowden, a skilled journalist and narrator, provides a perfectly timed examination of what happened twenty-seven years ago during the Iranian hostage crisis…. Bowden shines in describing the gallant madness of the failed rescue effort.”

“Bowden tells this compelling and fateful tale from all angles…. This is likely the closest we’ll get to a comprehensive and definitive account for some time. Bowden is especially good in recounting the paradoxical experience of the hostages…. Detailed, instructive, and heartbreaking.”

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Finders Keepers

Copyright © 2006 by Mark Bowden

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

first paperback edition

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bowden, Mark, 1951–

Guests of the Ayatollah: the first battle in America’s war with militant Islam / by Mark Bowden

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-10: 0-8021-4303-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-4303-7

1. United States—Foreign relations—Iran. 2. Iran—Foreign relations—United States. 3. Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979–1981—Chronology. 4. United States—Armed Forces—Search and rescue operations. 5. Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979–1981—Personal narratives. 6. Hostages—Iran. I. Title

E183.8.I55B68 2006955.05’42—dc22 2005058862

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