Kevin Price Visits With International Bestselling Author on His New Book, “The Siege”

On a Recent Price of Business, Host Kevin Price visited with NY Times bestselling author, Ben Macintyre.

According to a statement, “International bestselling author Ben Macintyre’s name has become synonymous with edge-of-your seat, nail-biting narratives. In such New York Times bestsellers as The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Agent Zigzag, Agent Sonya, and Operation Mincemeat, he offers a window into the world of spies and secret agents with such skill that even John le Carré, master of the spy novel, credited him with having written ‘the best true spy story I have ever read.’ While perhaps best known for this remarkable espionage oeuvre, Macintyre has also applied the same unique ability to get deep inside the psychology of his subjects in much more overt stories of adventure and derring-do, such as in his acclaimed New York Times bestsellers, Rogue Heroes and Prisoners of the Castle. In his latest work, THE SIEGE: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World, to be published by Crown on September 10th, Macintyre gives readers his most contemporary and action-packed work yet in a thrillingly taut tick-tock recounting one of the most harrowing hostage situations of our time.

“By the spring of 1980, Western tensions with Iran were at an all-time high. Seven months earlier, the American embassy in Iran had been seized with over 50 Americans held hostage. Operation Eagle-Claw, an elaborate mission to be carried out by American special forces to rescue the hostages, had just failed cataclysmically, aborted and with eight servicemen killed in the process. So when six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate overlooking Hyde Park in London, the stage was set for an increasingly tense standoff that threatened at any moment to spill into complete catastrophe.

“Through interviews with living witnesses—including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers, and the on-site psychiatrist—as well as exclusive access to a wealth of private and confidential source material, Macintyre takes us both inside the embassy walls where we sit amongst the 26 hostages and their captors, as well as into the secret rooms where police, the military, diplomats, government officials, and Margaret Thatcher herself debate how to handle the ensuing crisis. For six days, police negotiators worked day and night to try and bring a bloodless end to the standoff—while the SAS, Britain’s elite and secret special forces, laid plans for a daring rescue mission should they fail.  While millions will remember watching these dramatic events play out live on television, Macintyre offers an unprecedented, full 360 account from the perspective of those involved. THE SIEGE also gives historical grounding to our contemporary times as Macintyre examines the geopolitical origins of, and throughlines to, such moments as 9/11, the Iraq War, and current events in Gaza.

“Macintyre masterfully captures this extraordinary moment with such nuance, emotion, and tension, readers will find their hearts beating faster with each turn of the page. We look forward to discussing THE SIEGE with you further.”

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