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Author Farber, David, 1956-

Title Taken hostage : the Iran hostage crisis and America's first encounter with radical Islam / David Farber.

Imprint Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, ©2005.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Bristol, Main Library - Non Fiction  955.054 F221    Check Shelf
 Plainville Public Library - Non Fiction  955.05 FAR    Check Shelf
 South Windsor Public Library - Non Fiction  955.054 F22T    Check Shelf
 University of Saint Joseph: Pope Pius XII Library - Standard Shelving Location  955.05 F219T    Check Shelf
Description viii, 212 pages ; 24 cm.
Series Politics and society in twentieth-century America
Politics and society in twentieth-century America.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-204) and index.
Contents Crisis, chaos, and Jimmy Carter -- The Shah, Khomeini, and the "Great Satan" -- Takeover in Tehran -- Shaslik Nerg Bessawari Azerbaiyan or "The red blindfold would be lovely" -- 444 days.
Summary A behind-the-scenes examination of the Iran Hostage Crisis paints a portrait of the events leading up to the ordeal as a means for understanding it, drawing parallels to the current war on terrorism. On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took sixty-six Americans captive. Thus began the Iran Hostage Crisis, an affair that captivated the American public for 444 days and marked America's first confrontation with the forces of radical Islam. Using hundreds of recently declassified government documents, historian David Farber looks at the Hostage Crisis, examining its lessons for America's contemporary war on terrorism. Farber's narrative looks beyond the day-to-day circumstances of the crisis, using the events leading up to the ordeal as a means for understanding it. The book paints a portrait of the 1970s in the United States as an era of failed expectations in a nation plagued by uncertainty and anxiety. It reveals an American government ill prepared for the fall of the Shah of Iran and unable to reckon with the Ayatollah Khomeini and his militant Islamic followers. Farber's account is filled with fresh insights regarding the central players in the crisis: Khomeini emerges as an astute strategist, single-mindedly dedicated to creating an Islamic state. The Americans' student-captors appear as less-than-organized youths, having prepared for only a symbolic sit-in with just a three-day supply of food. ABC news chief Roone Arledge, newly installed and eager for ratings, is cited as a critical catalyst in elevating the hostages to cause célèbre status. Throughout the book there emerge eerie parallels to the current terrorism crisis. Then as now, Farber demonstrates, politicians failed to grasp the depth of anger that Islamic fundamentalists harbored toward the United States, and Americans dismissed threats from terrorist groups as the crusades of ineffectual madmen. Taken Hostage provides a chilling reminder that the past is only prologue.
Subject Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981.
United States -- Foreign relations -- Iran.
Iran -- Foreign relations -- United States.
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1977-1981.
Islam and politics -- Iran.
15.85 history of America. (NL-LeOCL)07761190X
Diplomatic relations. (OCoLC)fst01907412
Islam and politics. (OCoLC)fst00979879
Iran. (OCoLC)fst01204889
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Außenpolitik (DE-588)4003846-4
Geiselnahme (DE-588)4121329-4
Islam (DE-588)4027743-4
Radikalismus (DE-588)4048171-2
Iran (DE-588)4027653-3
Teheran (DE-588)4059304-6
United States (DE-588)4078704-7
Gijzelingen.
Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-1981) (OCoLC)fst00978765
Chronological Term Geschichte 1979-1981.
1977-1981
Geschichte 1979-1981.
ISBN 0691119163 (alk. paper)
9780691119168 (alk. paper)
069112759X (pbk.)
9780691127590 (pbk.)
Standard No. 99808429282
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