Argo Audiobook By Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio cover art

Argo

How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

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Argo

By: Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio
Narrated by: Dylan Baker
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The true account of the 1979 rescue of six American hostages from Iran

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there's a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them.

Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders - directors, producers, actors - traveled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake film called Argo. While pretending to find the perfect scenery and backdrops, the team succeeded in contacting the escapees and smuggling them out of Iran without a single shot being fired.

Antonio Mendez finally details the mind-bogglingly complex and dangerous operation he led more than three decades ago. A true story of secret identities and international intrigue, Argo is the gripping account of the history-making collusion between Hollywood and high-stakes espionage.

©2012 Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks Americas Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV Freedom & Security History & Criticism History & Theory Intelligence & Espionage Iran Middle East Political Science Politics & Government United States

Critic reviews

“Fresh and engaging…A solid choice for fans of thrillers and international intrigue.”(Kirkus)

“James Bond’s Q comes to life. This gripping, true story of a white-knuckle operation by a little known part of the CIA reads like a thriller. Full of authentic detail and characters, of bravery and drama, it’s a must-read for all spy enthusiasts and CIA watchers.” (Dame Stella Rimington, former general director, MI5, British Intelligence)

“The CIA and Hollywood in cahoots, a painter turned spy, an impossible rescue mission with no guns and only one chance at success - Argo has everything. This remarkable white-knuckle spy story is torn from the pages of real life, and will have you up past your bedtime to discover its thrilling endgame.” (Eric Blehm, author of Fearless)

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Featured Article Celebrate Award Season 2022 with Page to Screen Nominees and Listening Recs Based on Your Frontrunners
Fascinating History • Detailed Background • Excellent Performance • Suspenseful Rescue • Creative Espionage
Highly rated for:
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This was a great story with great Americans! It was a little drawn out though.

Great story

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Narrator ruined this for me. Especially his use of fake accents and over pronunciation of the T and Ss in “houseguests”.

Great story, annoying narration

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Although a familiar plot, ergo the Casablanca tag line, the book provides deeper understanding of the covert agencies of yesteryear. Very well read and an excellent companion to full fledged spy stories. A must ‘read!’

Play it again, Sam

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I really enjoyed this book and generally all the books by Tony Mendez that I’ve read so far.

Fascinating

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Love this story - makes me want to be a spy! Just make sure you listen to it at 1.25x b/c I almost returned it due to the narrator.

Amazing story!

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Too rarely do we get to hear about a government job done right, by people who care, and where caring and big, nutty thinking matters.
Here is that story. I knew the ending and was still happily transfixed.

Squad goals!

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I really loved the movie but had no idea it was based on a non-fiction book describing the events. Although the book version was somewhat less exciting and dramatic than the movie, it was still engaging and fast paced. Fans of the movie are sure to appreciate the adaptations made in the screenplay.

Engaging account of the rescue

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Would you listen to Argo again? Why?

This was a great story. It was exciting from start to finish. Being from Ottawa it was also nice to here about Canada's involvement in the rescue. I also found the narrator did a great job. All around excellent book.

Excellent story and performance

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The author of this book is exceedingly arrogant and self promoting which is annoying...made only more irritating by the narrator's voice and poor execution of accents. See the movie.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I had to stop listening.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dylan Baker?

Yes.

Could you see Argo being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes. Ben Afleck...duh....

Any additional comments?

See the movie. Avoid the book. Especially avoid the audio book.

See The Movie

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If you could sum up Argo in three words, what would they be?

History repeats itself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Argo?

The invasion of the embassy by the militants using their own children, teens and wives as human shields and distractions to gain the element of surprise against the American guards was horrifying since the reader knew how the ploy ended.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

At the end of the book after the houseguests had escaped and the involvement of the Canadians in their rescue was revealed to the world. The American response was powerful. It's a shame the movie glosses over those details.

Amazing story with a hollywood movie

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