Guests of the Ayatollah

“Suspenseful [and] inspiring.”

—Reuel Marc Gerecht, The Wall Street Journal

“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.”

—Steve Weinberg, San Francisco Chronicle

“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.”

—Richard Lacayo, Time

“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.”

—Edward A. Turzanski, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“[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.”

—Afshin Molavi, The Washington Post

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

—Ike Seamans, The Miami Herald

“An impressive piece of narrative journalism.”

—Michael B. Farrell, The Christian Science Monitor

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

—Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“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.”

—Gilbert Cruz, Entertainment Weekly

“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.”

—Brian Palmer, Newsday

“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.”

—Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, San Diego Union-Tribune

“A prodigious achievement in reporting…Compelling.”

—Craig McLaughlin, Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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

—Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“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.”

—Douglas Birch, The Baltimore Sun

“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.”

—Bill Bell, New York Daily News

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

—Ilan Berman, The New York Post

“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.”

—Christopher Willcox, The New York Sun

“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.”

—John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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

—The Times (London)

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

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“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.”

—Michelle Goldberg, The New York Observer

“A good and important book.”

—Ed Graziano, Richmond Times-Dispatch

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

—Marcela Valdes, Publishers Weekly

“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.”

—Mark Davis, Cox News Service

“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.”

—Katherine Dunn, The Oregonian

“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.”

—Tom Miller, Military.com