''Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam'' is a non-fiction work written by

Mark Bowden Mark Robert Bowden (; born July 17, 1951) is an American journalist and writer. He is a national correspondent for ''The Atlantic''. He is best known for his book ''Black Hawk Down (book), Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War'' (1999) about th ...

. ''Guests of the Ayatollah'' relates the events surrounding the

Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over t ...

of November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981 at the United States

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The book explores the causes of the hostage-taking (mostly from the American perspective), commenting on the events which took place in the embassy. The book also describes the aftermath of the hostages' release following the onset of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...

in September 1980. The book was made into a

Discovery Times Channel Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

special. Bowden's son, Aaron Bowden, was the head writer on the TV project produced by Wild Eyes Productions. The television program first aired on June 26, 2006. There are four parts to the documentary: ''Takeover, Captivity, Rescue Mission'' and ''Endgame''. Bowden has signed an agreement with Paramount studios and producer

Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ''No Country for Old Men,'' as well as ''Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Dragon ...

to allow a film adaptation of the book.

References

*Bowden, Mark (2006). ''Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam''. New York:

Atlantic Monthly Press Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "A ...

External links

Interview
on ''Guests of the Ayatollah'' at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

2006 non-fiction books Iran–United States relations Books about foreign relations of the United States Iran hostage crisis {{US-int-book-stub