Takeover in Tehran: The Inside Story of the 1979 U.S. Embassy Capture (Paperback)

~ (Author), Fred A. Reed (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this first-ever insider account of the American Embassy takeover in 1979, Massoumeh Ebtekar attempts to correct twenty years of misrepresentation by the Western media of what the aims of both the Iranian students and the populist revolution they personified were, and have since remained.

She also explains, in considerable detail, how the mullahs came to see (with the eager complicity of the international media and its own western political agendas) these students as a vanguard of their own theocracy, rather than of the much broader cultural revolution which had ousted the the regime of Shah Pahlevi, installed through a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1953.

In February of 2000, a month before Madeleine Albright’s admission of the previously secret C.I.A. involvement in this 1953 coup, Iran initiated a series of run-off elections to its parliament. To date, 70% of the candidates elected have been characterised by the Western media as "moderates," among them, like Ebtekar, students who took over the American Embassy in 1979. These moderates, like the current president Khatami, all ran on a platform of breaking the stranglehold the mullahs have maintained on politics since 1979, and establishing an open civil society within the Islamic state of Iran.

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the rapidly proliferating international phenomenon of peoples attempting to preserve their independence and culture from the overwhelming hegemony of American dominance in the global community of nations, and in how the "independent" American media continues to play an active, no matter how innocent and unwitting, role as an instrument of American foreign policy.

About the Author

As a young medical student, Dr. Massoumeh Ebtekar participated in the capture of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. Using the anglicized name "Mary," her presence on the television news became instantly recognizable throughout the hostage crisis which ensued: as its primary spokesperson, hers became the public face of the fledgling Iranian revolution. Since then, she has become a mother; Editorial Director of Farzaneh; received her Ph.D. in Immunology; been an outspoken advocate of women’s rights; and, along with the current president, Mohammad Khatami, became one of the first moderates in Iran to become a member of cabinet. Currently, she is Vice President and Head of the Department of the Environment

Fred A. Reed’s previous books include Persian Postcards: Iran after Khomeni which the U.S. Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin called "An excellent guide to the people, religion, politics and world view of modern Iran"; Salonica Terminus: Travels into the Balkan Nightmare; and Anatolia Junction. His years of balanced, objective, always engaging reporting on current events and their historical resonances in the Middle East have earned him a level of trust among many of its major political players enjoyed by very few western journalists today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Talonbooks; 1 edition (January 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889224439
• ISBN-13: 978-0889224438
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,233,857 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Alternate History, August 29, 2002

By A Customer

Many American readers will dismiss this book as purely propaganda, but I found it enlightening and at times entertaining. In attempting to explain the reasons behind the takeover, and the many unexpected results we learn a lesson about history and events' ability to have a snowball effect. Furthermore, there is little finger pointing and chest pounding that you'd usually find in such a memoir. People who take the time to read this book will learn about a time in our history that's often conjured up in media conversation, but is far from understood. This book, as its author sets out to do, begins that process of piecing together the many stories and perspectives of those 444 days.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timely, informative, interesting memoir , November 2, 2004

By	L. F Sherman "dikw" (Wiscasset, ME United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Takeover" is a timely book even today, a primary source memoir rather more revealing than many histories. Several reviewers did not read the book or read from such virulently antagonistic positions that they learned nothing from a rich resource.

The 444 days counted down by the nightly news leave images from one side and support a narrow and emotional tale about terrorists, fanatics, and threat. Far from reality or balance. The retelling of the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, the student's goals and activities, Khomeni's response, Press coverage and attitudes exemplifies something Americans have yet to come to terms with. The regular exposure of efforts at sabotage and CIA intervention were censored out of accounts we saw.(There is little or no account of the much older role of the US in Iran's finances and politics even before the First World War or even of the overthrow of Nationalist Mossadeq by CIA sabotage -- all of which provide a depth of experience and understanding of US motives and actions deeper than even today's typical understanding of Iran by Americans.) At a time when our extremists see nothing by an enemy in Iran we are likely to make similar miscalculations.

The biggest Power seems to have mostly sheltered, xenophobic, ill informed citizens because of both the media and our natural predisposition and distance. (As of 2004 we have new censorship that does not allow some books from specific 'enemy' countries to be published in the US - further corrupting our thinking and understanding.) "Takeover" is an easy and provocative read valuable for the personal story it tells and the much broader reflections about US policy, the CIA, the Media, and the near total "disconnect" from world realities from which we still suffer. It tells its story well and makes no pretense of being a broad and balanced history while injecting much that has been left out by American accounts.

4.0 out of 5 stars A view from the other side, July 12, 2002

By	B. Bauer "Brandita" (Kabul, Afghanistan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think it's important for readers to separate their own political beliefs when reading a book such as this one, because regardless of how you view the hostage takeover, this book presents what one side thought it was doing, a side we have not attempted to listen to and we can learn from. Ms. Ebtekar takes us inside the embassy compound in a fascinating account of the early days of this culminating moment in the revolution, and it's a view we as Americans need to at least check out. My own complaints with the book was that it seemed to lose some of the narrative thread as the description of the crisis wore on, and I would have also liked a bit more reflection on the part of the author given her current position in the Iranian government. Nevertheless, an important read for Americans and Iranians alike.