Book info

• Title Argo
• Author Antonio J. Méndez
• Year 2012
• Genre Non-fiction

Tehran, November 1979. Militant students stormed the American embassy and held sixty Americans captive for a gruelling 444 days. But until now the CIA has never revealed the twist to the Iran Hostage Crisis: six Americans escaped. The escape plot was run by Antonio Mendez, head of the CIA's extraction team and a master of disguise. Mendez came up with an idea so daring and potentially foolish that it seemed destined for Hollywood... and indeed it was. He invented a fake sci-fi film called 'Argo' (from the actual name of the CIA mission, a reference to Jason and the Argonauts). After announcing the production to the movie industry, Mendez put together a team of real 1970s Hollywood actors, directors and producers - along with covert CIA officers. They would travel to revolutionary Iran under a foreign film visa, and while 'scouting locations' throughout the country they would track down the six Americans who were hiding out. After giving them false identities as part of the film crew, they would spirit them back across the border.

Thoughts

I wasn’t sure whether to read the book or see the film for this first, but as the book came afterwards, I wasn’t worried when we watched the film before I got round to reading. It turns out that the author, intelligence officer extraordinaire, didn’t really want to tell the story at all but the CIA declassified the mission as part of some anniversary celebrations. A film was made, and then this book followed, to tell how it really happened.

I enjoyed reading the book - a bit of a slow start but it gradually got more and more interesting as it became less about politics and more about logistics. Seeing how the mission fit into the general CIA protocol and how it related and compared to other exfiltrations was interesting. I did think it showed the film up as being too Hollywood, as they didn’t have any of the problems they had in the movie - they were clearly added in to make it more exciting.

Still, it was good to read the real account of what happened, and it’s a story very well told whilst keeping the secrets that need to remain.

Rating: 4 / 5