Jimmy Carter and the tragedy of foreign policy -- Locating the argument: review of the existing literature -- The origins of the crisis -- The waiting game -- Days of decision: the hostage rescue mission -- Hostages to history -- Some alternative explanations: non-analogical accounts of the Iran decision-making -- Dramatis Personae -- The major historical analogies used
Summary
Why did Iranian students seize the American embassy in Tehran in 1979? Why did the Carter administration launch a rescue mission, and why did it fail so spectacularly? Using interviews with key decision-makers on both sides, this book provides an original analysis of a great foreign policy disaster
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-241) and index
