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Guests Of The Ayatollah
The First Battle In America's War With Militant Islam
by Mark Bowden
The author of "Black Hawk Down" chronicles the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis.
Atlantic Monthly Press, 704 pages
04/25/2006
$26.00
ISBN: 0871139251
Nonfiction
History
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Gilbert Cruz
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.
Christian Science Monitor Michael B. Farrell
What is perhaps most remarkable about Bowden's latest book is his ability to get inside the heads of the hostages and extract such detail so many years later.
New York Observer Michelle Goldberg
Fascinating, occasionally frustrating...A vast load of detail sometimes weighs the book down: Mr. Bowden spends page upon page describing the routines the hostages developed to fill their empty days. Even so, the story moves remarkably quickly, especially given the relative lack of action, and the fact that most readers know how it all ends. [22 May 2006]
Boston Globe Rich Barlow
An exhaustive account of the crisis. Bowden, who made his name writing "Black Hawk Down," showcases his reporting talent in this doorstop of a book; he has re -created in gripping detail a 27-year-old event.
San Francisco Chronicle Steve Weinberg
Having to juggle so many characters often sinks narrative storytelling. Yet Bowden focuses on a couple dozen hostages, a half dozen captors, a few U.S. military commandos, Carter, Reagan, Hussein, the deposed Shah of Iran, the nation's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini, plus plenty of walk-ons -- without causing confusion.
Wall Street Journal Reuel Marc Gerecht
The book is suspenseful, inspiring, mordant and, perhaps most of all, affectionate toward those who had to endure such trying circumstances. He shows unfailing respect for the hostages, many of whom gave him extensive, intimate and at times embarrassing access to their memories. Mr. Bowden lets you feel, above all else, the fear and anger of the Americans during their long imprisonment.
Washington Post Afshin Molavi
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.
Publishers Weekly Philip Caputo
Bowden's analysis of militant Islam is clear, current and dead-on. [17 Apr 2006, p.174]
Booklist Gilbert Taylor
Bowden keeps tension high while tracking the Americans' defiance of or acquiescence to their tormentors. [1 Mar 2006, p.42]
Salon Laura Secor
It is an uneven but riveting book -- history written as thriller, a suspenseful narration of one of the more bizarre and dramatic episodes in the annals of American diplomacy. It is doggedly reported, reconstructed with a detective's eye for detail, and strangely, given the times, only tenuously tied to any larger frame of meaning.
The Economist
Mr Bowden's account clarifies some issues though it breaks little new ground.
The New York Times Janet Maslin
Most problematic are the hostages' ways of coping with monotony: in replaying all these stories, Mr. Bowden makes the boredom all too authentic.
The New York Times Book Review James Traub
Back to the question of what light, if any, this entire episode sheds on our current predicament. First of all, what sense are we to make of the Iranian revolution? Was it even a revolution? Bowden appears to think not. He describes the Islamist movement as a symptom of "the death throes of an ancient way of life," and for that reason suggests that it "will wind up little more than a footnote in the long and colorful history" of Iran. This is not only startlingly dismissive, but myopic.
USA Today Richard Willing
Bowden's big-picture analysis comes up short. The "glorious Islamist revolution in Iran," he assures readers, will wind up as "little more than a footnote," a "despised, corrupt and ineffectual religious dictatorship." Religious "terrorism," he is certain, is "in its death throes" in Iran...Really?
The Guardian Chris Petit
Bowden's overlong account gets bogged down in the exhaustion and malaise of the original events, and the diplomatic cat-and-mouse is clogged by research.
Library Journal Michael O. Eshleman
His account of the Iran Hostage Crisis is overwritten, sloppy in detail, and seemingly endless. [15 Apr 2006, p.89]
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