Argo

How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

By: Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The true account of the 1979 rescue of six American hostages from Iran

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there's a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them.

Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders - directors, producers, actors - traveled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake film called Argo. While pretending to find the perfect scenery and backdrops, the team succeeded in contacting the escapees and smuggling them out of Iran without a single shot being fired.

Antonio Mendez finally details the mind-bogglingly complex and dangerous operation he led more than three decades ago. A true story of secret identities and international intrigue, Argo is the gripping account of the history-making collusion between Hollywood and high-stakes espionage.

©2012 Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“Fresh and engaging…A solid choice for fans of thrillers and international intrigue.”(Kirkus)

“James Bond’s Q comes to life. This gripping, true story of a white-knuckle operation by a little known part of the CIA reads like a thriller. Full of authentic detail and characters, of bravery and drama, it’s a must-read for all spy enthusiasts and CIA watchers.” (Dame Stella Rimington, former general director, MI5, British Intelligence)

“The CIA and Hollywood in cahoots, a painter turned spy, an impossible rescue mission with no guns and only one chance at success - Argo has everything. This remarkable white-knuckle spy story is torn from the pages of real life, and will have you up past your bedtime to discover its thrilling endgame.” (Eric Blehm, author of Fearless)

Squad goals!

Too rarely do we get to hear about a government job done right, by people who care, and where caring and big, nutty thinking matters.
Here is that story. I knew the ending and was still happily transfixed.

Engaging account of the rescue

I really loved the movie but had no idea it was based on a non-fiction book describing the events. Although the book version was somewhat less exciting and dramatic than the movie, it was still engaging and fast paced. Fans of the movie are sure to appreciate the adaptations made in the screenplay.

Excellent story and performance

Would you listen to Argo again? Why?

This was a great story. It was exciting from start to finish. Being from Ottawa it was also nice to here about Canada's involvement in the rescue. I also found the narrator did a great job. All around excellent book.

See The Movie

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The author of this book is exceedingly arrogant and self promoting which is annoying...made only more irritating by the narrator's voice and poor execution of accents. See the movie.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I had to stop listening.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dylan Baker?

Yes.

Could you see Argo being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes. Ben Afleck...duh....

Any additional comments?

See the movie. Avoid the book. Especially avoid the audio book.

Amazing story with a hollywood movie

If you could sum up Argo in three words, what would they be?

History repeats itself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Argo?

The invasion of the embassy by the militants using their own children, teens and wives as human shields and distractions to gain the element of surprise against the American guards was horrifying since the reader knew how the ploy ended.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

At the end of the book after the houseguests had escaped and the involvement of the Canadians in their rescue was revealed to the world. The American response was powerful. It's a shame the movie glosses over those details.

Pulls You Right Back Into History

I love the recent movie, which is why I decided to read the book. The stage setting of history made the book, and the movie, even better. The details and emotion of the event made the book terrific, and even shedded some light on scenes in te movie. A must read for the history buffs and lover of the movie.

Watch the movie first and then read the book

The book provides a ton of interesting detail that grounds the drama of the movie.

It’s interesting how much they preserved secrecy and the CIA’s operational capabilities.

The performance of the narrator is really good.

Better Than the Movie

I listened to the audiobook before I saw the movie. I preferred listening to the nonfiction account of the mission in Iran and other fascinating CIA missions rather than the Hollywood-ized version of events for the movie. The truth really was amazing and there was no need to fictionalize it.

Antonio Mendez is a hero and I'm glad he got the credit he deserved.

Details bog down fascinating story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I would have enjoyed an abridged version more than this one. Although the story itself is fascinating, I found the abundance of detail distracting and boring at times.

What did you like best about this story?

The actual escape process and the creativity leading up to it were fascinating.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The material was monotonous at times, so the reading came off a bit dull. It was not necessarily the narrator's fault.

Did Argo inspire you to do anything?

See the movie.

Liked the movie better.

This was an interesting read, but a rare case where the movie is much better than the book. There was some interesting background but not enough focus on the core of the story.