jethrien

Title: Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History
Authors: Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio
Genre: History (20th C spies)
Thingummies: 4.5

Synopsis: First person account of the events the movie was based on, by the CIA guy who masterminded the whole thing.

Thoughts: It's not often that the CIA will let its operatives tell one of the better stories. But apparently they were in search of a feel-good exploit to highlight for an anniversary, so we get this gem. There's been some fuss over historical accuracy of the movie, so here's a chance for the record to get set straight.

Mendez is an artist who spent most of his career forging documents and creating disguises. By the time the Iran hostage crisis rolled around, he was a department head who was still willing to hit the ground. Here, he tells the story of the six Americans who spent months hiding in the houses of Canadian diplomats before the CIA managed to extract them with a completely ludicrous cover story of a Canadian film crew scouting for a sci fi flick. It was just ridiculous enough to work. That, and the level of detail was amazing--they grabbed an actual stalled project, so they had a Zelazny-based script with concept art by Jack Kirby. The entire thing would be hilarious if it were not so deadly serious.

I can see why the movie took some liberties--the ending is perhaps a bit anticlimactic, but then, the best spy capers are. The real story is less the actual rescue and more the steps it took to get that far. So this isn't a story with a lot of pyrotechnics. And yes, of course it's one in which the author and his employer come out covered in roses. But it's an entertaining and fascinating look into a surprising amount of the details surrounding a major CIA expedition. The level of thought and craft that went into the plan is astonishing. And while the author is perhaps a little bit full of himself, it sounds as if he has a right to be. And he keeps enough of a sense of humor and is sufficiently gracious to the other people in the story that spending so long in his head is very enjoyable. We aren't going to get many chances to see how real spycraft works--take advantage of this one!