{"product_id":"argo-1","title":"Argo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eArgo\u003c\/i\u003e by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio - the declassified CIA story behind the Oscar-winning film\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF 'BEST PICTURE' AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS, THE BAFTAS AND THE GOLDEN GLOBES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTehran, November 1979. Militant students stormed the American embassy and held sixty Americans captive for a gruelling 444 days. But until now the CIA has never revealed the twist to the Iran Hostage Crisis: six Americans escaped.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe escape plot was run by Antonio Mendez, head of the CIA's extraction team and a master of disguise. Mendez came up with an idea so daring and potentially foolish that it seemed destined for Hollywood... and indeed it was. He invented a fake sci-fi film called 'Argo' (from the actual name of the CIA mission, a reference to \u003ci\u003eJason and the Argonauts\u003c\/i\u003e). After announcing the production to the movie industry, Mendez put together a team of real 1970s Hollywood actors, directors and producers - along with covert CIA officers. They would travel to revolutionary Iran under a foreign film visa, and while 'scouting locations' throughout the country they would track down the six Americans who were hiding out. After giving them false identities as part of the film crew, they would spirit them back across the border.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne part 'Ocean's 11' and another part 'Black Hawk Down', Mendez's mind-bogglingly complicated and risky gamble paid off: each escapee was extracted without a shot being fired. Mendez is considered one of the greatest officers in CIA history. The story of this, his greatest mission, has never been told.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNow an acclaimed film directed by and starring Ben Affleck, with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAntonio Mendez\u003c\/b\u003e was cited by Richard Clarke as one of the top two or three CIA agents in history. He received the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit, the Trailblazer Medallion and the Intelligence Star - for his rescue of six Americans from revolutionary Iran. He and his wife, also a famed agent, were technical consultants on the television series 'The Agency' and founding board members of the International Spy Museum in Washington.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMatt Baglio\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist\u003c\/i\u003e. His writing appears regularly in the \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e and the Associated Press.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54226905858392,"sku":"9780241964590","price":18.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780241964590_1167e02c-7953-416d-a351-771f503c9504.jpg?v=1777102211","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/argo-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}