In November 1979, Iranians overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took
U.S.
diplomats hostage. Of the 53 three hostages
who endured over a
year of captivity in the embassy compound, Tim Wells interviewed 36 of
them. Of those 36, he uses the story of 27 of them in this oral history
of what their life was their for the duration of their captivity.The
excerpts from that series of interviews gives readers a compelling view
of the nitty-gritty aspects of the hostages’ lives during that period.
Not surprisingly, the media never covered in detail the experiences
they reveal through this book. Often they were mistreated at the hands
of the Iranians. They had to endure agonizing ordeals, without knowing
whether or not they would ever be free again.Their training as
diplomats had not prepared them for such a hellish experience. After
all, according to the tenets of
international law, the grounds of an
embassy are considered to be a part of the territory of the home
country of the embassy staffers. The law of a host country does not
prevail on embassy grounds. Yet, the Iranians completely disregarded
those protocols of international law and custom. With
customary expectations about their personal safety no longer
applicable, the actions of the Iranians wreaked havoc on the emotional
and psychological well-being of the hostages. Through this book, they
can make the public at large aware of just how precarious their
situation proved to be.