Tuesday, July 30, 2013

#28: Argo by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio

During the Iran hostage crisis beginning in the late 70s, CIA agent Antonio Mendez hatches an audacious plot to rescue several Americans hiding in the Canadian embassy.  The mission is outlined in this (certainly sanitized) nonfiction account (as well as a very good movie version with Ben Affleck).

Although not nearly as exciting as the movie, Argo has many interesting elements, including accounts of Mendez's disguise skills and his overall interest in Hollywood, which leads him to a scheme where he is in Iran to scout for a science-fiction film that is never going to be made.

The denouement of the rescue, finally revealed after all of these years, provides a bright spot in what was a grim time for American diplomacy.

I listened to a very good audiobook version, read by Dylan Baker, that I borrowed from the Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.

No comments:

Post a Comment