American Hostages in Iran: The Conduct of a Crisis

The core chapters in this important volume are by officials in the State Department (Warren Christopher, Harold H. Saunders, Roberts B. Owen), the National Security Council (Gary Sick) and the Treasury Department (Robert Carswell and Richard Davis) at the time of the crisis. John E. Hoffman, Jr., describes the role of the major American banks holding Iranian assets. Oscar Schachter and former Senator Abraham Ribicoff offer commentary. The authors draw on their own hour-by-hour participation in order to present the enormous complexity of the crisis. The material on the legal, political, and economic difficulties of bargaining over the frozen Iranian assets is especially informative and potentially instructive should a similar crisis develop in the future.