On Wings of Eagles
by Ken Follett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ken FollettEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-12-07
ISBN: 0451213092
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: NAL Trade
Book Reviews of On Wings of Eagles
Book Review: An amazing and enduring true story
Summary: 4 Stars
Ken Follett's engaging prose flows effortlessly through most of this book but at times it becomes unaccountably prosaic. As some reviewers have suggested, there seems to be quite a bit of the voice of Ross Perot here.
Quibblers suggest that nothing heroic was done to rescue two imprisoned hostages (for that is really what they were: hostages). Anyone who has ever worked for a powerful company, especially overseas, knows he or she is at the mercy, if you will, of the man or men in charge. And up till recently, those in charge were always men. Spouses played supporting roles. But just because there is the possibility that the men who were rescued by the team that Ross Perot put together might have gotten out anyway--and, especially after reading this book, I would never assume that--is not to say the rescuers were not heroic. Perot himself deserves praise for sticking by his employees, at substantial personal cost.
In 1978 Iran was in a violent state of revolution. Americans at that time were particularly detested by the Iranian populace, who associated them with the hated strong man, the Shah. The Shah was deposed and Americans wanted to leave Iran and then soon realized they HAD to leave Iran. For some reason two employees of ELS, Ross Perot's data processing company, were imprisoned by an Iranian official named Dadgar. Perhaps Dadgar thought that one of the men, William Gaylord, was the chief of the Iranian operation, William Gayden, and it was a case of mistaken identity. The prisoners were not formally charged. Once they escaped, they made their way to the hotel where some of the rescue team were staying. Perot had put together, under the impressive leadership of former Green Beret Colonel Arthur ("Bull") Simons, a formidable group.
From then on during their journey out, ultimately via a remote road in northwestern Iran, the situation was even more hazardous and often terrifying. Another team of employees met them across the border. These second-team men had also undergone discomfort and difficulties just to get to the frontier from the Turkish side and to prepare their part of the rescue.
Even with the whole country in turmoil, Dadgar's people pursued the two men relentlessly, like a latter-day Javert. It seems a strange, and oddly personal, vendetta. The government under the Shah had hired Perot's data service company EDS to set up a base so the country could have socialized medicine, but that year the government apparently ran out of money and ceased to make payments. EDS finally demanded the tardy sum and refused to do any more till they got it. That's when the trouble accelerated. Dadgar alleged or at least implied that EDS had been dishonest. Almost at random, it seemed, Dadgar tossed the two EDS employees in prison, and they became the focus of the Iranian's rage with the firm.
One of their biggest problems the rescuers had was the hostile terrain in the primitive mountainous area they had to cross. Another was the anarchy of the tribal people they encountered. Each tribe answered to its own head man and it seemed there was no guaranteed safe-conduct no matter who they got to sign their documents. The Americans did skirt the law but the book states they tried to keep this at a bare minimum.
Their story as told in the book is a bit longer than it needs to be and under a lesser writer might become tedious, but in fact it is riveting all the way. The wives and families seemed to be incredibly stoic, even when they did not know exactly what was going on. It might have been more natural to see them fall apart occasionally and at least one couple eventually divorced. The women, as much as their husbands, deserve honour and respect. It's hard to explain, but even though this happened thirty years ago, the wives seem anachronistic, perhaps because they are defined through masculine prisms.
Finally, at the very end of the book, Follett tells us that more American hostages were taken in Teheran in November, 1979 but he chooses--or Perot chooses--not to mention the six American hostages who made their way to the Canadian embassy and hid inside the homes of the ambassador and immigration officer John Sheardown. The courageous Canadian ambassador, Kenneth Taylor, with the cooperation of the Canadian politicians of the day to whom he answered, issued these hostages false Canadian passports so they could escape their siege in Iran. True, they did not have to break the law--at least not Canadian law-- because a special act of Parliament was passed in the first secret session since World War II, in order to issue these documents. At that point they were assisted in this endeavour by the CIA.
Theirs is still a hair-raising adventure. Without taking away from the bravery and panache of Perot's men, we wonder what Ken Follett's brilliant pen would have made of this event, dubbed "the Canadian caper," which called for a different kind of courage, but one that was just as real.
The doughty and indomitable businessman Ross Perot generously went through a great deal of his own time and money to save these men. Likewise, Ambassador Taylor might have been forced to sacrifice his own career. Both men put everything on the line. There was every possibility that things could have ended disastrously in each case,but both men were not afraid to take a chance.
Summary of On Wings of Eagles
The #1 International Bestseller now in trade paperback?with 16 pages of photos.
Number-one bestselling author Ken Follett tells the inspiring, true story of the Middle East hostage crisis that began in 1979, and of the unconventional means Ross Perot used to save his countrymen.
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